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PERSONAL NAMES IN 
THE BIBLE 



ALEXANDER STRAHAN, PUBLISHED 

London 148 Strand 

Edinburgh 35 Hanover Street 

Dublin 35 Middle Abbey Street 



PERSONAL NAMES 
IN THE BIBLE 

interpreted anb 91 Hu^trateb 



BY 

W. F/ WILKINSON, M.A. 

VICAR OF ST WERBURGH'S, DERBY 
JOINT-EDITOR OF WEBSTER AND WILKINSON'S GREEK TESTAMENT 



ALEXANDER STRAHAN, PUBLISHER 
148 STRAND, LONDON 

1865 



#<»<.* 

\\-i 







Printed by Ballantyne and Company, Edinburgh. 



PREFACE, 






2^? ART of this work, comprising the chapters 
on the Names of God, and some of the 
preliminary observations on names, has 



already appeared in the pages of the Sunday Maga- 
zine. These chapters, with their introduction, 
form a complete article on the topic indicated 
by their title, but the work, as a whole, could not 
be presented to the reader in detached portions 
without manifest disadvantage. The nature of 
the subject renders facility of reference from one 
part to another peculiarly desirable. An index, 
too, is a necessary appendage to the discussion of 
a large number of names, not arranged alphabeti- 
cally or chronologically, but classified under various 
heads. Obviously, neither of these conditions 
could be satisfied by gradual publication. It was, 
therefore, thought expedient to advance the whole 
work at once to the dignity of a separate volume. 

b 



vi PREFACE. 

The present work is limited to the considera- 
tion of the personal proper names occurring in the 
Old and the New Testament. All such names will 
not be found in its pages ; but none of any im- 
portance, it is believed, have been omitted ; and 
some are brought under notice, and shewn to 
possess significations of considerable value, which 
are probably unknown to many even of the atten- 
tive readers of the Bible. 

The inquiries to which those who will honour 
the following chapters with a perusal are invited 
will satisfy them that there exists, in numerous 
instances, a close connection between the proper 
names of the Bible and its histories and doctrines. 
It is the discovery of such a connection which 
imparts the chief interest and profit to the study 
of the personal nomenclature of the Scriptures. A 
broad distinction is to be made between it and the 
method of spiritualization, by which an active and 
ingenious fancy is enabled to educe the truths and 
doctrines of the gospel from almost any names, or 
combination of names, occurring in the sacred 
page. A real relation between the terms of a name 
and a historical fact, or between its sentiment and 
some co-existing article of religious belief, may be 
frequently established upon sound exegetical prin- 



PRE FA CE. vii 

ciples. Spiritualization is founded upon no prin- 
ciple but the theory and creed of the individual 
spiritualizer. 

This book has been ratten with the constant 
intention and effort to bring its subject within the 
range of the comprehension and judgment of 
general readers. Of course, the independent study 
of such a subject cannot be pursued without a 
knowledge of the Hebrew language, and some 
practice in etymology. But it is hoped that the 
explanations given of the construction of certain 
remarkable names, and the reasons offered for their 
interpretation, will be intelligible to all who are 
acquainted with common grammatical principles. 
No discussion has been entered upon which in- 
volved the necessity of employing the Hebrew or 
Greek characters. This restriction has necessarily 
rendered the establishment of some interpretations 
imperfect. But competent scholars will probably 
admit that, in doubtful cases, respectable authori- 
ties, and legitimate principles of etymology, may be 
appealed to in favour of the conclusions adopted, 
although these may not be the conclusions which 
they are themselves inclined to form. 

The works which have been principally con- 
suited m the preparation of this volume are the 



viii PREFACE. 

valuable " Onomasticon Veteris Testament*," b\ 

Simonis, (i 741 j) its far inferior predecessor, the 
" Onomasticon Sacrum," of Hiller, (1706;) Glassius's 
u Philologia Sacra," (1634;) and that copious re- 
pertory of authorities, Poole's "Synopsis," (1669.) 

Considerable advance has been made, since the 
time of the latest of these writers, in the study of 
Hebrew, and in Oriental literature generally. 
Useful, therefore, as their profound learning and 
extensive research must be acknowledged to be 
by all students of our subject, much greater re- 
liance must be placed on the opinion of philo- 
logers of our own age as to the derivation and 
construction of names. The "Lexicon" of Ge- 
senius, and the " Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee 
Lexicon" of Mr B. Davidson, have been found 
most available among modern works of their class, 
as affording sound and suggestive information. 

The consideration of the proper names in the 
Bible, it will be seen, in not a few cases affords an 
opening into wide fields of historical investigation. 
Upon these it has not seemed consistent with the 
object and plan of the present work to enter. It i-- 
offered as an humble contribution, or rather incen 
to the study of Hebrew literature, the import 
ance ofwhi* h is becoming every daj more apparent. 



PREFACE, ix 

Its subject must commend itself to the attention of 
seekers after Divine truth, if it can be shewn, as it 
is proposed to do in the following pages, that the 
personal names recorded in Holy Scripture are, in 
many instances, illustrative of the history, customs, 
national character, institutions, and religion of that 
race which has exercised so wonderful an influence 
upon the highest interests of humanity — the people 
" to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, 
and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and 
the service of God, and the promises ; whose are 
the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, 
Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever." 



CONTENTS. 



OX THE NATURE, ORIGIN, AND USE OF PROPER NAMES, I 



ON SURNAMES, . 



28 



III. 



NAMES OF GOD, 



50 



THE NAMES OF GOD, (JEHOVAH,. 



. 82 



NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH THE NAME OF GOD. (EI.,) 12$ 

VI. 

NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH THE NAME OF GOD, 

(JEHOVAH,) 164 



PROPER NAMES FORMED FROM THE NAMES OF 

HEATHEN DEITIES. ...... 234 



xii CONTENTS. 

VIII. 

BIRTH NAMES, 



PAGE 

2;6 



IX. 
SACRAMENTAL NAMES, 3 T 3 

X. 
MISCELLANEOUS NAMES, 3^6 

XI. 
HEATHEN NAMES, 4^ 

XII. 
NEW TESTAMENT NAME- 4^ 2 



ON THE NATURE, ORIGIN, AND USE OF 

PROPER NAMES. 




EARNED men who have written on the 

science of language hold precisely op- 
posite opinions as to the character of 
the words which formed the beginning of human 
speech. Some think that all such words were 
originally proper names — that is, names given to 
individual objects; and that, gradually, as it was 
observed that there were other objects of the same 
kind with those first named, these words were em- 
ployed to denote the classes to which the individual 
objects belonged, and so became common names, 
or what grammarians call " general terms." Thus, 
the word, or sound, which in the primitive language 
expressed the notion of a river, was the word or 
sound which had formed the name of the particular 
river with which the earliest inhabitants of earth 

had become acquainted. It was originally a pro- 

A 



2 ON THE NA TURE, ORIGIN, AND 

per name, the name of one object ; but was natu- 
rally used when another, and afterwards many 
other, objects of the same kind presented them- 
selves, and so became the name of the class. On 
the other hand, it is maintained that all the names 
of things, and, indeed, almost all words, were in the 
first instance general terms. The earliest observation 
would suggest the necessity of such terms. With 
very few exceptions, each single object would seem 
at once to be one of a class ; nor would the attempt 
be made to denote each by a particular name be- 
longing to itself exclusively. Indeed, if we suppose 
a word to have been applied to a single object as 
its name, without reference to any other, since it 
would form the expression of some quality or attri- 
bute of that object which would be afterwards 
found to exist in others, and which was already 
known independently of its exhibition in this par- 
ticular instance, such a name would be actually a 
general term before it was applied to a second 
individual or a class. Thus, in the example pro- 
posed, the first river which was seen might receive 
its name from observation of its constant onward 
motion, as is really the case with the word "river," 
the root of which is ru, or sru, to run. The name 
thus imposed originated in a general idea already 
in the human mind, and would be necessarily em- 
ployed as the suitable representative of every sue- 



USE OF PR OPER NAMES. 3 

cessively-observed object — that is, every running 
stream — which recalled the same idea to the mind. 
It was thus essentially a general term in its first 
application. 

Mr Max Miiller, in his " Science of Language," 
has satisfactorily shewn that there is truth in each 
of these apparently conflicting theories of the for- 
mation of language. At the same time, he adopts 
the latter, as supplying the more accurate and philo- 
sophical account of this great phenomenon. The 
name given originally to a single object, he admits, 
became, in innumerable cases, the name of the 
whole class to which the object belongs. It is 
perfectly right to maintain that the word cavea, or 
caverna, cave or cavern, when first given, was ap- 
plied to one particular cave, and was afterwards 
extended to other caves. But then, he adds, it is 
equally right to maintain that in order to call even 
the first hollow cavea, it was necessary that the 
general idea of " hollow " should have been formed 
in the mind, and should have received its vocal 
expression, cav. 

Again, he says, " Analyse any word you like, and 
you will find that it expresses a general idea pecu 
liar (rather, 'appropriate') to the individual to which 
it belongs. What is the meaning of moon ? The 
measurer. What is the meaning of sun i The be- 
getter. What is the meaning of earth] The 



4 ON THE NA TURE, ORIGIN, AND 

ploughed/ 5 * These words, it may be observed in 
passing, cannot possibly have been the earliest 
names for the objects which they denote, as they 
are obviously the result of long observation. But, 
doubtless, the earliest names for these objects were 
formed upon the same principle. And these words, 
as the vocal signs of objects in their nature single, 
and not, when first observed, belonging to classes, 
are good examples of the application of that prin- 
ciple. By considering them and their derivations, 
which express the ideas that gave rise to them, 
the reader will probably understand and adopt the 
conclusion which Mr Max Miiller has formed on 
this interesting subject, and which, with slight 
variations from his own language, may be thus 
stated : — " The first thing really known, so that the 
knowledge of it may be rightly termed a concep- 
tion of the human reason, is that which is general. 
It is through it that we know and name afterwards 
individual objects of which any general idea can be 
formed and communicated ; and it is only in this 
third stage that these individual objects, thus known 
and named, become again the representatives of 
whole classes ; and thus names, or proper names, 
become appellatives, that is, terms applicable to all 
the individuals of the classes to which they belong." 
This view of the character of the terms first in 
* Lectures on the Science of Language, pp. 360-363. 



USE OF PR OPER NA MES. 5 

rise among men to denote the various objects with 
which they were conversant illustrates, and is 
illustrated by, the subject of the present volume. 
Proper names, in the usual meaning of the 
phrase, that is, special names given to individual 
objects, and each belonging to one only, must 
have existed from the very beginning of human 
life and human speech. They must have arisen 
from the necessity of distinguishing one object 
from another, or others, of the same kind; and 
could not be transferred from one to another with- 
out frustrating the very purpose of their invention. 
Hence the distinction would immediately be ap- 
prehended between general and special terms, be- 
tween common names which expressed character- 
istics or qualities in which many objects exhibited 
an identity, and proper names which designated 
individuals as differing from all others of their 
class or kind in some circumstances of appear- 
ance, position, use, or relation to the namer. The 
experience of a few days would be sufficient to 
create the feeling, if indeed it was not intuitive, 
that the name first given to a single new object 
must be a common term — one which would be 
equally applicable to a second object, and all 
other objects, of the same kind. 

If we consider some of the circumstances in 
which the first human beings must have been 



6 ON THE NA TURE, ORIGIN, AND 

placed, wherever located on the earth's surface, we 
shall at once understand in what manner, and how 
early, proper names originated. They would see 
around them plains, hills, valleys, trees — solitary, 
and in masses — rocks, streams, pools, and springs. 
It would soon become necessary, for the purposes 
of existence and of society, to mark individual 
objects belonging to several of these classes, in 
their communications with each other. When, 
in addition to the stream or spring near their 
dwelling, which daily supplied them with water, 
other streams and springs were discovered in the 
neighbourhood, which they would repeatedly pass, 
and which w T ould be occasionally serviceable to 
them during their excursions in search of food, all 
of these would receive special names by which they 
would distinguish them individually in the conver- 
sations in which they narrated their adventures, or 
planned or gave directions for future expeditions. 
Conspicuous rocks, and groves, or groups of trees, 
observed as landmarks to guide them in their 
wanderings, would also, as they became familiar, 
be designated by appropriate and distinct appella- 
tions. Hills, or mountains, seen in ranges or 
clusters, not only as serving the same purpose, but 
as features in the landscape forming frequent sub- 
jects of discourse, would also be distinguished from 
each other by proper names, suggested for the most 



USE OF PROPER NAMES. 7 

part by their comparative size, relative position, or 
peculiarity of form or colour. The valleys, hollows, 
or plains, in which particular fruits or herbs were to 
be found, or which had to be traversed to reach 
various points beyond them, would in a very short 
time be known each by its separate and character- 
istic name. 

Passing from things, or inanimate objects, to 
persons, we shall find that, as soon as a family was 
formed, it must have become necessary to invent 
proper names for the individuals of which it was 
composed. The first pair might indeed most natu- 
rally address each other, in the earliest stage of their 
existence, by the terms which expressed the male 
and female of human kind, the words which in 
their primitive language corresponded to "man" 
and "woman." And their first infant, we may 
easily imagine, would be called merely by a name 
signifying " offspring," and equivalent to son, or 
daughter, or child, or baby, as is frequently the 
case among ourselves ; the first born, or latest 
born, of a family often being called "baby" during 
infancy, long after its proper name has been deter- 
mined. But as, with us, after the arrival of a second 
or succeeding child, the common or class-name 
Baby is no longer applied to the earlier born, who 
thenceforward is spoken of by his appropriate 
name, so, in the first family, the birth of a second 



8 ON THE NA TURE, ORIGIN, AND 

child must have rendered it necessary to impose 
upon the elder a strictly proper name. A similar 
name would then at once be given to the second 
child, and provided for each succeeding member of 
the family on his coming into the world. We are 
speaking, it must be observed, of the circumstances 
which would absolutely necessitate, at a particular 
and very early period, the adoption of proper 
names for the purpose of designating the indi- 
viduals of the human race; but it is by no means 
certain, or even probable, that the invention of 
proper names was delayed until the birth of a 
second child. The habit of giving special names 
to individual objects must have been formed, as 
we have seen, long before the birth of the first 
child, and may have prompted the naming of 
that child by a special or proper name as soon as 
he was born. 

If, now, we turn to the inspired record in the 
book of Genesis, which gives the history of the 
first human family, we shall find that it confirms 
the conclusion at which we have arrived from con- 
sidering the nature of the case, — that is, the circum- 
stances in which the parents of mankind were ne- 
cessarily placed. The history supports the view 
which we have taken of the principles of the for- 
mation of common names. It states that "the 
Lord God brought the beasts of the field and the 



USE OF PR OPER NA MES. 9 

fowls of the air to Adam to see what he would call 
them i and whatsoever Adam called every living 
creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam 
gave names to all cattle, and to the fowls of the 
air, and to every beast of the field." Now we are 
quite sure that by the phrases " every living crea- 
ture/' " every beast of the field," cannot be meant 
every individual animal which had been created, 
or which then existed ; but what is meant is, that 
he gave to the representative of every class, or spe- 
cies, of animal the name which should belong to all 
individuals of its class or species. This he could 
only do by observing some peculiar characteristic 
in which such animals differed from all others, ex- 
cept those of their own kind. That is, he applied 
to each of those representatives a term which ex- 
pressed a general idea already formed in his mind. 
Such a term would therefore include under it all 
those individual animals which exhibited the char- 
acteristic suggestive of the idea. 

Again, it is said that " in the day that God cre- 
ated man, male and female created he them, and 
called their name Adam in the day when they were 
created." This name is almost the same with the 
w T ord which means earth, or ground, and corre- 
sponds to the Latin homo, which belongs to the 
same root as humus, soil. It is expressive, there- 
fore, of the material origin and constitution of the 



io ON THE NA TURE y ORIGIN, AND 

human being, and is evidently, in its primary use, 
a common name, though borne by the first man as 
his proper name. Further, when the human female 
had been created, and was brought to Adam, it is 
recorded that a he called her name woman, be- 
cause she was taken out of man." Afterwards we 
are informed, "he called his wife's name Eve, (or 
chavvah, life,) because she was the mother of all 
living." Here it is to be observed that, in the 
first instance, he gave her, as in the case of the 
animals, a general or common name, which de- 
noted her relation to himself in origin and consti- 
tution, much in the same manner as his own name 
denoted his relation to the soil.* But the second 
name which he gave her was evidently intended, 
and used, as a proper name, in the present sense 
of the phrase. It expressed indeed a general idea, 
as does every proper name, or in fact every word ; 
its actual meaning would have rendered it the 

* Adam, and Adamah, are the words for man and 
ground ; Ish, and Ish-shah, in Gen. ii. 23, for man and woman. 
The word Ish is here for the first time used for man ; and it 
is to be noticed that it is used by Adam in speaking of him- 
self, but clearly as a general term. Its root, or primi- 
tive meaning, is uncertain ; but from its subsequent use we 
may infer that it denoted a characteristic of humanity higher 
than that expressed by the word Adam, and may have oc- 
curred to the father of men, while naming the animals, as 
an appellative distinguishing his own from the inferior order 
of the animate creation. 



USE OF PROPER NAMES. i i 

suitable appellative of every mother ; but the word 
Eve, unlike the former word woman, never became 
an appellative or common name \ it was restricted 
to our first mother personally, or, in its subsequent 
use, when given to any other female, had reference 
to her, as the repetition of her personal name. 
Hence it would appear that the limitation of any 
term to its use as a proper name, — that is, the 
name of individuals exclusively, — was conventional, 
except in the very few cases in which a term ex- 
pressed something concerning an individual which 
could not be affirmed concerning any other. So 
true it is that the original character of all terms by 
which objects or beings are designated is general, 
and that common names have not been derived 
from proper, but proper names from common. 

Words are not to be regarded as mere sounds, 
or combinations of sounds, attached at random to 
certain objects, so as to become the audible signs 
by which we distinguish them from each other in 
our communications with our fellow -men. It is 
quite certain that, in all languages, every word, and 
every syllable that forms a portion of a word, has a 
representative or descriptive meaning. As origi- 
nally employed, it signified some notion, or idea, 
more or less remotely connected with its present 
use. And thus every word, and even every particu- 
lar and common termination, has its history ; and if 



1 2 ON THE NA TURE, ORIGIN, AND 

we knew that history, we could tell why and how 
it has come to stand for the thing, or action, or 
relation which it now expresses. It is the same 
with proper names. Although used merely as 
marks by which one person may be distinguished 
from another, all proper names have a meaning. 
There was a time when, and an occasion on which, 
every proper name, whether of the class Christian 
or surname, was first given. There was a person 
who was the first to bear it ; and, when given to 
that person, it was given for a particular reason, 
which is involved in its meaning. There are many 
names common among us, and having equivalents 
in every language, which at once discover the rea- 
son for their original imposition or assumption, 
such as the names of various occupations and 
offices, as Farmer, Hunter, Carpenter, Butler, 
Chamberlain; or names denoting physical pecu- 
liarities, as Long, Short, Brown, Greatheed, (Grosse- 
teste or Great-head,) Strongitharm. 

But very frequently, although the meaning of a 
name may be as obvious as in those instances, and 
may be readily ascertained, it is -scarcely possible 
to form a plausible conjecture as to its significance 
in relation to the individual to whom it was first 
applied. That a name may be very appropriate 
and expressive, although only apprehensible as 
such by those who gave it or him who received it, 



USE OF PR OPER NA MES. 1 3 

and their contemporaries or acquaintance, is shewn 
in the case of various names, the cause of the 
imposition of which is recorded in Scripture ; for 
example, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Jerubbaal, Ichabod. 
Without the information supplied in the sacred 
history, we should certainly be at a loss to under- 
stand the connection of these words with the char- 
acter or circumstances of the persons to whom 
they belong. But, possessed of that information, 
we see that they were indicative of actual occur- 
rences, had a commemorative and suggestive sig- 
nificance. We may fairly infer from these instances, 
and others occurring in Heathen as well as Jewish 
history, that " there hangs a tale" by every name, 
fully accounting for its application to the individual 
to whom it first became " proper." And by help 
of such examples, and guided by sound principles 
of etymology, and some knowledge of the habits 
of a people, or the circumstances of the times or of 
families, we may, in other cases in which we have 
no direct information, reasonably hope to discover, 
if not the matter of fact, yet certainly the feelings, 
desires, or expectations, and sometimes the ob- 
servable qualities or peculiarities in which names 
have originated. We allude chiefly to names be- 
stowed upon children at their birth or in infancy. 
But there are probably not a few names among 
those which we meet with in the earliest histories, 



H ON THE NA TURE, ORIGIN, AND 

both sacred and secular, like those among uncivi- 
lized nations, of which we have accounts from 
modern travellers, which have displaced the names 
given in childhood, having been acquired by. the 
manifestation of some remarkable trait of character, 
or the performance of some exploit. To this class 
belong those before spoken of, which denote cer- 
tain occupations and modes of life ; but these were 
for the most part superadded to the name already 
given, and so became the original surnames. Such 
names, together with those indicative of locality, or 
identical with the proper names of places, form a 
prolific source of surnames, in the modern sense of 
the word, which is the reverse of the original sense ; 
for surnames now distinguish families, not indivi- 
duals; are the first or birth names, not additive; 
and are inherited, not arbitrarily imposed. 

The primitive idea of a "name" is preserved in 
our language, and others of the same family, in the 
actual signification of the word. For name and its 
kindred terms, nomen in Latin, o-nom-a in Greek, 
and nama in Sanskrit, are derived from a root which 
is in fact the same word with the" English verb to 
know. Name therefore means that by which any- 
thing is known, that which declares, defines, de- 
scribes it, by stating some characteristic quality or 
attribute. This original notion of a namev/SLS cer- 
tainly maintained in considerable purity among the 



USE OF PROPER NAMES. I 5 

Hebrews for many generations. Proper names had 
among them a deeper meaning, and were more 
closely connected in men's thoughts with character 
and condition, than among any other ancient nation 
with the history and literature of which we are ac- 
quainted. This is apparent from the care taken in 
the sacred writings to record the origin of so many 
names of individuals and of places, from the fre- 
quent allusions to them as significant, and the 
remarks made upon their meaning, and from the 
peculiar employment of them on important and 
solemn occasions when given or changed, to mark 
some great transaction or event, to form titles of 
honour, or to record a promise, or threat, or pro- 
phecy. But the fact of the recognition of the true 
and primary purpose of a name by the Israelitish 
people, and in their language, is most strikingly 
displayed in their idiomatic use of the term " name" 
in reference to God, and especially of the expression 
" name of the Lord." This expression, and its 
equivalents, occur very frequently in the writings 
of the Old Testament, and in every variety of cir- 
cumstance and connection. 

The name of God, in the Scriptural or Hebrew 
use of it, is evidently identical with the character 
of God j it denotes His attributes, or the qualities 
of His nature, by which He is distinguished from 
all other beings. "The name of the Lord" (or 



16 ON THE NA TURE, ORIGIN, AND 

Jehovah) is considered by some a periphrasis, 
or circumlocution, for the word God or Lord, 
a reverential mode of speaking of the Almighty. 
But it is more than this; its real meaning is — 
God as He is revealed to His people ; God, as an 
object of our knowledge, and as having become 
such by means placed within our reach, that is, 
by the manifestation of Himself in His true 
character — His revelation of His existence, unity, 
and glory; and that especially through His 
holy oracles or Word. Thus, when God was 
pleased partially to grant the request of Moses, 
" I beseech Thee shew me Thy glory, ' ; He signi- 
fied His intention by saying, " I will make all 
My goodness pass before thee." And the mode 
in which the promise was fulfilled is thus de- 
scribed : — " The Lord descended in the cloud, 
and stood with him there, and proclaimed the 
name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by 
before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The 
Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, 
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping 
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and trans- 
gressions and sins, and that will by no means 
clear the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers 
upon the children, and upon the children's chil- 
dren, unto the third and to the fourth genera- 
tion/' (Exod xxxiv. 5-7.) Here the proclamation 



USE OF PROPER NAMES. I 7 

of the " name of the Lord" is evidently the declara- 
tion of His perfections, the formal revelation of Him- 
self to Moses, and through Moses to Israel, by a 
description of His character, and announcement of 
His will. In Ps. xx. 1-4 the prayer of the Psalmist 
is, " The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble ; 
the name of the God of Jacob defend thee ; send 
thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee 
out of Zion • remember all thy offerings, and 
accept thy burnt sacrifice ; grant thee according 
to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel. 5 ' 
In this passage, " the name of the God of Jacob/' 
in the second clause of verse 1, certainly corre- 
sponds to " the Lord" in the first clause ; but not 
as perfectly synonymous. According to the 
genius of Hebrew poetry, when words or phrases 
of substantially the same import occur in two 
parallel or antithetical clauses, the variation of the 
second from the first consists in its being expla- 
natory, or expansive, or augmentative of the 
notion which the first contains. " The name of 
the God of Jacob" is used instead of the word 
" Lord, (Jehovah,") or simply, " God of Jacob," 
to express the fact that the petitions offered, and 
the promises implied in them, are founded upon 
the actual known character of God and His re- 
vealed relation to His people. This is made 

clear by the declaration of the ground of con- 

B 



1 8 ON THE NA TURE, ORIGIN, AND 

fidence which follows the petitions. " Some trust 
in chariots and some in horses, but we will re- 
member the name of the Lord our God;" that is, 
we will call to mind what God is in Himself, and has 
made known about Himself to us, and has pro- 
mised to do for us. Similarly we must interpret 
Ps. liv. i : " Save me, O God, by thy name, and 
judge me by thy strength;" where strength is 
explanatory of "name f the first idea being, that 
God has a character on which His servant may 
rely for salvation, the second defining that char- 
acter as "mightiness" or "power." Hence, 
too, we may understand the profession made by 
David in Ps. lii. 9, " I will wait on thy name" 
to mean, " I will look forward with confident 
expectation to thy manifestation of thyself in the 
character in which thou hast made thyself 
known to me." And the saying of Solomon, 
" The name of the Lord is a strong tower \ the 
righteous runneth into it and is safe," amounts to 
the assertion that the revelation which God makes 
of Himself to a righteous man by His Word and 
by His Spirit, the knowledge of Himself which He 
has vouchsafed to His servant, enables him to 
find shelter and defence in his God. Thus also 
in Ps. ix. 10, " They that know thy name will put 
their trust in tAee." On the other hand, when 
Isaiah announces the doom of the Assyrian army 



USE OF PR OPER NA MES. 1 9 

under Sennacherib, by saying, " Behold the name 
of the Lord cometh from far, burning with His 
anger, " (Isa. xxx. 27,) his meaning is, " Jehovah 
will make Himself known to the enemies of His 
people by a terrible and unexpected manifestation 
of Himself in wrath and punishment." There are 
many other combinations, very familiar to the 
pious mind, in which the phrases " my name," 
"thy name," or " name of the Lord" occur, which 
will become more deeply significant, and the 
source of greater spiritual profit, if we take notice 
how the true and primary notion of the word 
"name" is involved in them, and is the basis of 
their formation. To " love the name," to " fear 
the name" of the Lord, is not merely to experi- 
ence the affection of love or fear of God when His 
name is mentioned or remembered, but to be 
conscious of an abiding, habitual love and fear of 
Him, as the effect of real knowledge of Him and 
communication with Him. To u praise and 
thank the name of God," to " bless His name," 
to "exalt, or rejoice in, His name," are the acts 
of those whose minds are fully possessed with a 
sense of His Divine goodness and greatness, 
arising from an acquaintance with Himself in His 
will, and works, and ways, and with which He has 
specially favoured them. And the remarkable 
phrase, to "walk in the name of God," (Mie. 



20 ON THE NA TURE, ORIGIN, AND 

iv. 5,) or to "walk up and down in His name," 
(Zech. x 12,) intimates an open, constant, ac- 
knowledgment of God, a profession among men 
of a true creed concerning Him, an exhibition of 
His character and nature by the reflection of His 
communicable perfections in the life and conduct 
of His servants. The New Testament abounds 
with instances of a similar use of this very expres- 
sive and comprehensive word. Thus our Lord, 
in His prayer to His Father, states, " I have 
manifested thy name to the men that thou gavest 
me out of the world." "Thy name" must here 
signify the gospel revelation of the truth concern- 
ing the Divine nature — the union of the Father 
with the Son and Spirit essentially, and in the 
work of man's salvation, as disclosed by Him 
formally to them in His last discourse, and mani- 
fested in all the facts of His incarnation. When 
the apostle Paul declares that God the Father has 
given the Lord Jesus " a name that is above every 
name? what he means is, that He has declared 
and proclaimed the essential, eternal, infinite 
dignity of His nature as the Supreme Being, the 
Almighty God. And when the ministration of 
the gospel word is spoken of as u preaching in 
the name," or " concerning the name," of Jesus, 
and believers in the gospel are described as those 
who " call on His name," we must understand, on 



USE OF PR OPER NA ME S. 2 1 

the one hand, the presentation of the truth re- 
lating to His person, mission, and offices, and on 
the other, the practical recognition of this truth 
in the profession of belief, and in the exercises of 
worship. The statement that "there is no other 
name (but the name of Jesus) under heaven 
given among men whereby we must be saved," 
is the assertion that Jesus alone possesses the 
nature, character, attributes, and alone occupies 
the position, which can qualify an individual 
personal Being to become the Saviour of the 
world. 

By aid of a Concordance, a large number of 
passages in which the phrases, " name of the 
Lord," and " my name," " thy name," " his name," 
(used with reference to God,) occur, may be com- 
pared with those which have been adduced. And 
it will be found that a correct appreciation of the 
sense in which the word " name" is employed in 
them will enable the student of Scripture to per- 
ceive a depth and fulness in their meaning which 
otherwise would be unobserved. He will also dis- 
cover the singular appropriateness of the expression 
to the context, or the circumstances, on every oc- 
casion. And such an examination will completely 
establish the truth of the statement already made, 
that in the Hebrew language, and Hebrew mind, 
the idea of a name was not merely that of a word, 



22 ON THE NA TURE y ORIGIN, AND 

or sound, indicating an object, but that of a signi- 
ficant term really suitable to the object to which it 
was applied, as describing it by some characteristic 
quality. 

It is not to be supposed, however, that all, or 
the greater part, of the proper names which we meet 
with in the Bible were given in exact conformity 
with this original idea. They all, indeed, have a 
meaning, in most cases easily discoverable, con- 
veyed at once in the simple enunciation of the 
word, so that everybody perceived it as soon as 
the word was pronounced. And this meaning, 
doubtless, represented some particular fact or sen- 
timent in the mind of those who imposed the name, 
connected with the individual w T ho bore it. But 
the name so given had often nothing to do with the 
character of its possessor, often cannot be descrip- 
tive of anything more than a feeling, a desire, or 
even a fancy, and was as arbitrarily chosen for his 
name as is many a Christian name among our- 
selves, selected merely because, according to the 
taste of parents or friends, it has a pleasing sound, 
and is what we call a fine or pretty name. Nor 
can it be reasonably inferred from the mysterious 
spiritual signification undoubtedly belonging to 
some Scripture names, that all the names, even of 
distinguished personages connected with the devel- 
opment of God's gracious designs, are susceptible 



USE OF PR OPER NA MES. 2 3 

of a similar interpretation. Some expositors of the 
Divine Word have supposed that important truths of 
a spiritual and evangelical nature were involved in 
such names, or in their combinations and relations 
to each other, and were thus symbolically presented 
to the Church, and preserved, forming a kind of pro- 
phecy in enigma. Thus, for example, Ursinus the 
reformer, author of the Heidelberg Catechism, in- 
geniously constructed a statement of the fall and 
redemption of man from the names of the first ten 
antediluvian patriarchs, commencing with Adam.* 
It is given with evident approbation, under the 
name Adam, by Brown of Haddington, in his Dic- 
tionary to the Bible. And the Rev. Julius Bate, in his 
" Critica Hebrcea" (1767) asserts that all the articles 
of the Christian faith are expressed in the names 
given to persons in the book of Genesis only. Such 
a treatment of Scripture names is, in fact, the adop- 
tion of the spiritualizing system first introduced 
into Christian theology by Origen of Alexandria, 
in the third century, but derived by him, it 
can hardly be doubted, from a Jewish source, the 
" science falsely so called " which is known by 
the name of the Cabbala. According to this sys- 

* In Bayle's Dictionary, under the word Alabaster, we find 
an account of a similar exposition of r Chron. i. i, " Adam, 
Seth, Enoch," in a sermon preached from that text by Dr 
Alabaster before the University of Cambridge. 



24 ON THE NA TURE, ORIGIN, AND 

tern, not only all the facts, and minute incidents, 
occurring in the Old Testament histories, but also 
names and numbers, have a mystic meaning. 

Cocceius, a learned Hebraist of the German 
Reformed Church, in the seventeenth century, ad- 
vocated and exemplified in his voluminous writings a 
similar theory of interpretation. And, in this coun- 
try, Mr Hutchinson and his followers, among whom 
were some persons highly distinguished for learning 
and piety during the last century, carried out the 
principle of Cabbalistic interpretation to its fullest 
extent, by maintaining that the truths of physical 
science, as well as of the gospel, were latent, but 
discoverable, in the roots or original meaning of 
various Hebrew words. It is plain that if we could 
suppose the Word of God so written as to need such 
methods of interpretation for the discovery or proof 
of the deepest and most important truths, it would 
indeed be a sealed book except to the most subtle 
and imaginative minds. And even these would be 
unable to arrive at any certainty or agreement. For 
the spiritual explanation of apparently ordinary 
events and circumstances, and the- doctrines or 
facts elicited from names, or the derivations of com- 
mon words, would depend upon the exercise of 
ingenuity, unrestricted by any definite and generally 
ived principles or rules. Besides, not only 
would such researches issue in different and contra- 



USE OF PROPER NAMES. 2 5 

dictory results, but it would be easy for those who 
entered upon the study with minds already biassed 
in favour of error, to draw from allegorized narra- 
tives, and the etymologies of proper names, con- 
clusions most adverse to the pure and simple testi- 
mony of the gospel of Christ. It is not too much 
to assert that the most extravagant and fanciful 
theories of religion which have ever assumed the 
name of Christian, and the most widely opposite 
heresies, might be constructed and established by 
means of the abundant and ductile materials which 
the Cabbalistic or Cocceian system of interpreta- 
tion would supply, and most especially in its appli- 
cation to names, both common and proper. 

The subject is nearly allied to Scriptural typo- 
logy. And it should be treated with the same 
cautions and limitations. There are, all must 
admit, certain persons, actions, and events in Old 
Testament history bearing a typical character; 
but it does not follow that the whole of the Old 
Testament history, national, and domestic, and 
personal, is a series of types, representing the 
facts and doctrines of Christianity. Nor can it be 
allowed that every plausible resemblance which a 
lively fancy may discover between transactions 
recorded in the ancient Word and the revelations 
of the gospel is sufficient to establish a typical 
relation. Free scope may be granted to illustra- 



26 ON THE NA TURE, ORIGIN, AND 

tion ; and there is no source from which we may- 
derive more abundant, or more natural and felici- 
tous, illustrations of God's gracious manifestations 
of Himself, and His dealings with His people in 
Christ, than the record which gives an account of 
His communications with the Church of old, and 
the experience of its members ; but we must be 
careful not to exalt an illustration into a type, or a 
comparison into a prophecy. We may connect, 
figuratively, a portion of Old Testament narrative 
— an act, a character, a saying — with a spiritual 
truth or doctrine of the gospel ; but we are not 
warranted in concluding that the connection was 
intended by the Holy Spirit, and awaited our dis- 
covery. The safe rule is, to accept those person- 
ages and proceedings only as typical which are 
represented as such by explicit declaration, or 
pointed allusion, in the New Testament. And it 
is also to be noticed that even in these there are 
degrees and limits of typicality. Similar considera- 
tions are applicable to the study of the significance 
of proper names in Holy Writ. Some are undoubt- 
edly expressive of important facts', or of Divine 
intentions, and are the seals and promises of bless- 
ings to be granted under the old covenant and 
the new. But we are not justified in ascribing 
tli is character to any except under the direct 
guidance of the Word of God. Many names 



USE OF PROPER NAMES. 2 7 

enunciate deeply spiritual truths, and from them 
we may draw lessons of much interest and value 
in connection with the personal history of those 
who bore them, while yet we must hesitate to 
acknowledge them as prophetic symbols, the de- 
positories of gospel mysteries, known at the time 
to an initiated few, or entirely reserved for dis- 
closure in the New Testament age. Others can- 
not, without distortion, or the most arbitrary con- 
jecture, be conceived to possess a moral or spiritual 
meaning ; they must be accounted for on the 
ordinary principles of personal nomenclature, or 
placed among the curiosities of sacred literature. 
We propose, in the following pages, to comment 
upon many examples of these and other classes of 
proper names occurring in the Bible, wishing to 
introduce our readers to a large and interesting, 
and, we trust, not unprofitable field for the exer- 
cise of intelligent inquiry, without involving them 
in the mazes of mystic speculation. It will be 
seen, we think, that there is much that is directly 
instructive, and much more that is suggestive of 
edifying reflection, in the signification of many 
Scripture names, when discussed upon the ordi- 
nary principles of verbal or historical criticism, and 
even though we reject the aid of the easy and pro- 
lific, but uncertain and dangerous method of syste- 
matic spiritualization. 



IL 



ON SURNAMES. 



URNAMES, in our sense of the word, did 

not exist among the Hebrews. Their 

^| names were all special, and strictly "pro- 



per," each belonging to an individual only. They 
had no family names — that is, names borne by all 
the members of a family in common. Their cus- 
tom in regard to names was exactly the same 
with that of the Greeks, and totally different from 
that of the Romans, or of most modern European 
nations. If the reader will call to mind the cele- 
brated characters, or any number of persons, men- 
tioned in Grecian history, from the earliest to the 
latest age, he will observe that each is known but 
by one name. Solon, Socrates, Xenophon, Demos- 
thenes, Alexander, had no other names than these 
respectively. If it Avas necessary to distinguish 
any one from another who might bear the same 
name, or to mark his origin or connections, this 



ON SURNAMES. 29 

was done by adding the name of his father and of 
his birth-place, or, as at Athens, of the tribe and 
commune to which he belonged. Occasionally an 
eminent person had an epithet attached to his 
name, denoting some peculiarity in his character, 
or some actions of his life, as Demetrius Polior- 
ketes (taker of cities), Ptolemy Soter (Deliverer), 
Antiochus Epiphanes (illustrious, or magnificent.) 
But these epithets were borne only by the indi- 
viduals themselves, and did not descend to their 
children. They were examples of the surname, 
properly so called — not the name given to a per- 
son at his birth, but given in addition to it ; not 
the name to which a person was born — a notion 
altogether foreign to the minds of the Greeks or of 
the Hebrews — but a title which he acquired by 
his habits or exploits. They were similar to the 
names given to some of our early English kings, as 
Edward the Confessor, Edmund Ironside, William 
the Conqtieror, Henry Beauclerc, (the learned.) 
Richard Cozur de Lion. Such names, we may 
observe, throw light upon the original institution 
and nature of proper names, as descriptive of the 
character or some quality of their possessor. 

It may seem an exception from the ordinary 
usage of the Greeks in regard to proper names, 
that certain tribes and families bore the names of 
distinguished ancestors. The patronymic, or an- 



30 ON SURNAMES. 

cestral name, was generally formed from that of 
the patriarch or founder of the race by the addi- 
tion of the termination ides, which signifies " son 
of," or "descendant of." Thus we read of the great 
Dorian clan of the Heracleidae, or descendants of 
Hercules ; a tribe in Sparta called JEgidae, from 
an ancestor ^Egeus ; the Alcmaeonidae, an Athen- 
ian family, the posterity of Alcmaeon ; the Peisis- 
tratidae, the immediate descendants and connec- 
tions of Peisistratus, who had raised himself to the 
sovereignty of Athens ; the Seleucidae, or kings of 
the line of Seleucus. But these names rather be- 
longed to the families, or dynasties, as a whole, 
than to the individual members of each. An 
Athenian might be said to be an Alcmaeonid as a 
Scotchman might be said to be a Campbell ; but 
he would not possess the name Alcmaeonides as 
the Scotchman would the name Campbell, in the 
character of a personal surname. A successor of 
Seleucus would be called one of the Seleucidae, but 
his name would not be Seleucides in the same 
sense in which the name of one of our Stuart kings 
would be Stuart. We find that appellatives similar 
to these Grecian patronymics were in use among 
the Hebrews, derived from the heads of tribes, or 
of the subdivisions of tribes, which were families 
and households, (Josh. vii. 17, 18.) Thus, under 
the Levites, the posterity of Levi, were the Ko- 



ON SURNAMES. 31 

hathites, a number of families descended from 
Kohath, second son of Levi ; under the Kohath- 
ites, the Korahites, or children and grandchildren 
of Korah, who was grandson of Kohath, (Exod. 
vi. 18, 24.) A son of Korah might, in addition to 
his own special name, be called a Levite, to dis- 
tinguish him from another of a different tribe ; a 
Kohathite, to distinguish him from another of a 
different family, though of the same tribe \ or a 
Korahite, (1 Chron. ix. 31, 32,) to distinguish him 
from another of the same tribe and family, but not 
of the same household. But neither Levite, nor 
Kohathite, nor Korahite,* could be said to be his 
proper name. The Jews were, we know, very 
particular in the preservation of their genealogies, 



* The termination tie is the Greek ties, which is employed 
by Greek writers to signify locality, or nationality, not 
parentage, the proper termination significant of which is, as 
above stated, ides. The Greek translators of the Old Testa- 
ment, known as the Septuagint, (or the LXX.,) seldom em- 
ploy the termination ties, except in accordance with the 
correct Greek usage. But in our version it will be noticed 
that He is used to represent not only an inhabitant of a cer- 
tain locality, as Carmelite, Jezreelite, or a person belonging 
to a certain nation, as Canaanite, Amaiekite, but a member 
of a tribe, as Reubenite, Ephraimite, or of a family, as Ko- 
hathite, or of a household, as Korahite. In Hebrew, the ter- 
mination i stands for each of these ideas. Thus, Ammon-i, 
an Ammonite , Gibeon-i, a Gibeonite ; Gad-i, a Gadite ; 
Kohath-i, a Kohathite ; Korah-i, a Korahite. 



32 ON SURNAMES. 

and therefore were tenacious of the appellations 
which expressed origin and relationship. But al- 
though the use of generic and ancestral names was 
thus carefully maintained among them, as also 
among the Greeks, yet the system of proper names, 
in both races, continued, through all their ancient 
history, to be strictly mononymic ; that is, each in- 
dividual really possessed, and was considered as 
possessing, only a single name. 

The system of proper names which prevailed 
among the Romans was very different from that of 
the Hebrews and Greeks. Yet it was grounded 
upon usages similar to those which have been de- 
scribed, in regard to the classification of the peo- 
ple, and the mode of expressing it in appella- 
tives. The free-born population of Rome was 
divided into gentes, or clans, and these again 
into familice, families. Every person belonging to 
a gens bore the name of that gens. If he belonged 
to the gens Julia , he possessed by birth the name 
Julius ; if to the gens Servilia, the name Servilius. 
This was called his nomen, or name. But he also 
bore the name of his peculiar fainilia^ a subdivi- 
sion of the gens. Thus, if his familia of the gens 
Julia was called Caesar, his name would be Julius 
Caesar, or if he was of the Casca family in the 
gens Scrvilia, his name would be Servilius Casca. 
Cicsur, or Casca, was termed the e<guomen, or 



ON SURNAMES. 33 

family name. In each case the person had a right 
to his two names by birth. He then received a 
name to distinguish him from other members of 
his particular household, corresponding to our 
baptismal name. This was styled h\s pranomen or 
fore-name. Thus, in the first of the two examples 
above given, a child named Julius Caesar in virtue 
of his birth, receiving the prsenomen Caius, would 
be thenceforward called Caius Julius Caesar; in 
the second, if his prcenomen was Publius, his full 
name would be Publius Servilius Casca. It was 
common, however, to drop one of the two latter 
names in speaking of or to an individual; so that 
in the former case the style of address would be 
C. Caesar or C. Julius, in the latter, P. Casca or 
P. Servilius. A person of great eminence, or the 
head or chief member of a familia, would some- 
times be spoken of under only the family name, as 
Caesar, or Casca. The same practice also prevailed 
among intimate friends. But, in all cases, the 
three names belonged to the individual as appro- 
priately as the baptismal and surnames belong to 
each among ourselves. A fourth name was fre- 
quently added, but only as a title, or distinction 
peculiar to the person who bore it. Thus Cneius 
Pompeius, whose family name was Strabo, acquired 
by his splendid military exploits the surname of 
Magnus, or "the Great," during his lifetime. P. 



34 ON SURNAMES. 

Cornelius Scipio, the conqueror of Carthage, was 
surnamed from that conquest, Africanus ; and in 
the same war Q. Fabius Maximus obtained the 
addition of Cunctator, " the delayer," from the 
mode of warfare by which he effectually baffled 
Hannibal, his great opponent, the invader of Italy. 
This fourth name, or rather title, was called the 
agnomen. Frequently, and especially in the early 
history, only two of the names are mentioned, the 
first being the prcenomen^ and the second almost 
invariably the nomen or name of the gens or clan. 
Probably, in many cases, the familia to which a 
historical personage belonged had not yet received 
a distinct name. 45 " And this third name, or cogno- 
men^ is often of such a signification as to indicate 
that it was in the first instance given on the prin- 
ciple of the ag7iomen, as an epithet distinguishing 
its possessor by some peculiar characteristic, not 
always of a flattering or dignified nature. In fact, 
it was often originally a mere nickname. Thus 
Strabo means " squint-eyed f Riifus, a very com- 
mon surname, familiar to us in our English history, 
" red-haired ;" Naso, the family name of the Poet 
Ovid, (Publius Ovidius,) " long-nosed f Cicero 
from Cicer, a kind of vetch, commemorating pro- 
bably a wen or mark on the face of one of the 
ancestors of the great orator. Other surnames 
9 Plutarch. Life of Caius Marius, c. I. 



ON SURNAMES. 35 

were indicative of local origin, as Gallus, Atticus ; 
others of occupation, as Pictor, (painter,) Agricola, 
(fanner,) names occurring in very distinguished 
clans. It cannot be doubted that in all cases the 
name of the fa mi/z<z was of later date than that of 
the gens; and perhaps most familice were merged 
in the gens, as far as their name was concerned, 
until the head of a household acquired a peculiar 
appellative, which descended to his children and 
posterity. It is to be observed, that the use of 
double names is coeval with the earliest period of 
Roman history ; and, according to Roman histo- 
rians, existed among the Italian nations who were 
established in the central regions of the peninsula, 
and possessed regular political and social institu- 
tions, before the founding of Rome. Thus we read 
of Titus Tatius, the king, and Mettus Curtius, the 
general, of the Sabines; Octavius Mamilius, a Tuscan 
commander; Attius Tullus, the chief of the Vol- 
scians. It would seem, therefore, that the Roman 
system of proper names was not of Roman origin, 
but is to be referred to a remoter antiquity than 
the age of Romulus, which was nearly eight centu- 
ries before the Christian era. 

What were the peculiar conditions of society 
which gave rise to the custom of hereditary sur- 
names is an inquiry full of interest for the anti- 
quarian, and the philosophical student of history. 



36 ON SURNAMES. 

But it is one evidently of great difficulty and per- 
plexity. This custom, as almost invariably con- 
nected with modern civilization, has the appear- 
ance of being a result of civilization, or at least 
its necessary accompaniment. It presents itself in 
the same aspect as derived by the Romans from 
Italian races ; one of which, the Tuscan, was, we 
know on the sure testimony of its material re- 
mains, in a highly civilized state for several gene- 
rations before the Roman community was formed. 
On the other hand, its necessary connection with 
civilization is disproved by the fact that it did not 
exist in the Greek States, the most refined and 
polished of ancient societies ; celebrated for their 
cultivation of all the arts, and the possession of very 
elaborate and complex institutions, both national 
and domestic. Nor was it adopted by the Greeks 
after they came in contact with the Romans, and 
when their principal states formed provinces of 
the Roman empire. We may also observe, that, 
if the general use of family names is to be referred 
to the organization, and order, characteristic of a 
civilized age or people, we might have expected it 
to prevail among the Jews, since they were cer- 
tainly distinguished from most of their contempo- 
raries by a very systematic constitution, which 
regulated, to a great extent, their relations in the 
commonwealth and in the family. Their actual 



ON SURNAMES. 37 

civilization was indeed imperfect, and their consti- 
tution, through many a long period of their history, 
existed rather in theory than in fact and practice. 
Yet they preserved their tribal arrangement, and its 
subdivisions and classifications, which were, one 
would think, highly favourable to the introduction 
of hereditary names. 

During the earliest epoch of their national his- 
tory, when their constitution was new and in full 
force, two important enactments might easily 
and naturally, — it seems, indeed, as if they must 
almost necessarily, — have originated the usage. 
One was the provision made in consequence 
of the application of the daughters of Zelophe- 
had, the head of a household in the tribe of 
Manasseh, who had no sons, to receive in their 
own right the inheritance of their father, (Num. 
xxvii.) Their request was granted, but with the 
condition, subsequently annexed on the represen- 
tation of the heads of families belonging to the 
tribe, that if they married they should marry in 
the family of the tribe of their father, (Num. xxxvi.) 
They married their cousins, their father's brother's 
sons j and a general ordinance was established that 
" every daughter that possesseth an inheritance in 
any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife 
unto one of the family of the tribe of her father, 
that the children of Israel may enjoy every man 







8 ON SURNAMES. 



the inheritance of his fathers/' An example of 
conformity to this ordinance is instanced in the 
family of Eleazar in the third generation from Levi. 
Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters 3 and 
their brethren, (cousins,) the sons of Kish, (Eleazar's 
brother,) took them, (1 Chron. xxiii. 22.) Heredi- 
tary names would have been most useful in such 
cases, as indicating the perpetuation of the patri- 
monial rights in the lineage of the original pos- 
sessor. Indeed, the descent of the paternal name, 
as well as its connection with the property, seems 
contended for in the language of Zelophehad's 
daughters. " Why," say they, " should the name 
of our father be done away from among his family, 
because he hath no son?" If the custom of 
family names had been prevalent in Israel, we 
should at once understand them to have demanded 
that their father's name, as well as property, should 
be perpetuated and descend through them, being 
daughters, exactly as if they were sons, even 
though they might intermarry with persons of a 
different name. And the subsequent compromise, 
or modification, of the privilege conceded to them, 
would then appear to satisfy their demands with- 
out any departure from the ordinary laws of the 
descent of a family name through males, by re- 
Stri< ting tli em to intermarriage with persons who 
were members of their own family, and bore their 



ON SURNAMES. 39 

own name. But it does not appear that such was 
the meaning of either of the provisions made in 
their case. The preservation of their father's name, 
however effected, was not by actual transmission 
as the birth name of every one of their posterity. 

Similarly, when Boaz proposed to marry Ruth, 
the widow of his kinsman Mahlon, he stated that 
his object in so doing was "to raise up the name 
of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name 
of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, 
and from the gate of his place," (Ruth iv. 10.) 
This is almost a quotation of the words of the law 
regulating such transactions, which enacts that, 
when a marriage took place between a widow and 
her husband's next kinsman, " the first-born which 
she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother 
which is dead, that his name be not put out of 
Israel/' But we have an exact register of the 
posterity of Boaz, which became the royal family 
of Judah, and we find in it no trace of the occur- 
rence of the name Mahlon, or Elimelech, as a 
family name. The son of Boaz was Obed, and 
Obed's son was Jesse, the father of David. Be- 
sides, it is evident that, in most cases to which 
this law applied, the second husband would, if a 
family name existed, bear the same family name as 
the deceased ; so that there would be no neces- 
sity for the explicit enactment that the offspring 



40 ON SURNAMES. 

of the marriage should bear the first husband's 
name. 

An example of the actual adoption of a name 
on occasion of marriage with the daughter of the 
person who bore it is found in Ezra ii. 61, (Neh. 
vli. 63.) There, among the claimants to be 
reckoned among the priest's families, are men- 
tioned, " the children of Barzillai, which took a 
wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, 
and was called after their name." This, accord- 
ing to our notions, would imply that the daughters 
of Barzillai were all called Barzillai, as well as by 
the names given to each in infancy, and that the 
person who married one of them exchanged his 
own surname for hers. But the general usage of 
Scripture is entirely opposed to the supposition 
that a daughter of Barzillai would herself be called 
Barzillai, or that any person bore the name of a 
father, or any ancestor, as a matter of course, 
beside the name by which he is actually designated. 
All that is meant in this case is, that the son-in-law 
of Barzillai the Gileadite, being in his own right 
the head or chief of a family, took Barzillai's single 
name instead of his own single name, that his 
descendants might be reckoned " children of Bar- 
zillai." The arrangement had probably some- 
thing to do with the descent of the family pro- 



ON SURNAMES. 41 

petty. The patrimony of the venerable Gileadite 
may have descended through a daughter, in con- 
sequence of the provision made for his eldest son 
Chimham, and his other sons, in Judea, through 
the gratitude of David. For we know that Chim- 
ham had an estate in the neighbourhood of Beth- 
lehem, which was called by his name four cen- 
turies afterwards (Jer. x. 41-17) ; and the sons of 
Barzillai were especially recommended by David, 
when on his death-bed, to his son Solomon, with 
the request that they might "be of those who 
should eat at his table." The person who married 
the daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite, was a 
member of a priest's family. He was probably a 
descendant of Merari, son of Aaron, to whose 
family were allotted twelve cities, one of which 
was Ramoth in Gilead. And the assumption of a 
new name — that of his father-in-law — on his mar- 
riage, may have been intended as an abdication of 
his right to a portion of the sacerdotal patrimony, 
as well as an assertion of his claim to the inherit- 
ance to which he was to succeed in right of his 
wife. That the transaction was of some such 
nature, compromising the sacerdotal position and 
character of this person's descendants, is clear from 
Ezra ii. 63, where we are informed that "the 
children of Barzillai sought their register among 



42 ON SURNAMES. • 

those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they 
were not found ; therefore were they, as polluted, 
put from the priesthood. " 

The nearest apparent approach to the employ- 
ment of family names resembling our own is 
found in the designations of some of the exiles 
who returned from Babylon after the seventy years' 
captivity. The enumeration of those "that went 
up out of the captivity .... which came with 
Zerubbabel/' is, in Ezra ii. and Neh. vii., given by 
families, and localities ; the heads of families, and 
the places of their original settlement, being 
named. Thus we read, " the children of Parosh, 
two thousand one hundred and seventy-two ; the 
children of Bigvai, two thousand and fifty-six ;" 
Parosh and Bigvai being evidently the names of 
their respective ancestors ; also " the children of 
Bethlehem, one hundred and twenty-three \ the 
men of Xetophah, fifty-six ; the children of Jericho, 
three hundred and forty-eight ; " the names here 
recorded being those of towns. But in the list 
which Xehemiah gives, (chap, x.,) of those who 
sealed the covenant, we find among the names of 
" the chief of the people/' Parosh, Bigvai, and 
twelve or thirteen more, which are stated in the 
chapter previously referred to as the names of 
ancestors of families. Hence it might appear that 
the existing heads of these families signed the 



ON SURNAMES. 43 

covenant by their family names which had de- 
scended to them from their ancestors. But as 
there is an equal or greater number of names 
among those attached to the covenant which are 
not in the list of ancestors, it may as fairly be 
supposed that the former class of signatures is 
composed of the names of persons who, being 
heads of families at the time, happened to bear, 
as their own and sole proper names, those of 
the ancestors of their respective families. And 
this is rendered probable by the fact that it 
was customary to name children after their 
grandfathers : so that in a given generation the 
names of a considerable number of the founders, 
or chief ancestors, of families would be repro- 
duced. 

The second enactment which might have been 
expected to suggest, if not to necessitate, the usage 
of hereditary names, is the institution of the Jubilee. 
The object of this institution was to secure the 
proprietorship of all estates and allotments of land 
in perpetuity to the representatives or families of 
the original possessor. In every fiftieth year, every 
head of a household was to be in the possession of 
the inheritance of his fathers, and every individual 
was to occupy, as a freeman, the family position 
to which he was entitled by birth or descent. The 
language of the law was, "Ye shall hallow the 



44 ON SURNAMES. 

fiftieth year, it shall be a jubilee unto you ; and ye 
shall return every man unto his possession, and ye 
shall return every man unto his family/' (Lev. xxv. 
10.) In the interval, lands might be alienated, 
and come into the occupation of persons having 
other lands of their own \ also members of families, 
and even whole households, might quit their ances- 
tral locality, and pass into a condition of servitude in 
distant districts, and amongst strange families. The 
importance of bearing in mind continually, in such 
circumstances, the family claim to the patrimonial 
estates, or the claim of relationship to the head of 
a family, was so great, and the necessity of preserv- 
ing a recognised distinction between actual occu- 
piers and real owners of property must have been 
so constantly felt, that one cannot but be surprised 
that the adoption of family surnames, so obviously 
useful for such purposes, should net have arisen 
out of the institution. It was precisely the con- 
ventionalism that the circumstances were calculated 
to induce. The want of such an expedient as a 
hereditary name belonging to each endowed fa- 
mily, and to every freeman, must have been felt in 
all communications, oral or documentary, relating 
to the present and prospective social condition of 
numerous families and individuals. Yet it is cer- 
tainly a fact that the practice never seems to have 
suggested itself by these combinations, and compli- 



ON SURNAMES. 45 

cated relations, of families to each other, and to 
property.* 

The future researches of historians and students 



* The confusion likely to arise from the want of family- 
names may be understood by comparing with the prac- 
tice of the Israelites the following statement of an ex- 
traordinary parallel case in modern times: — "Until the 
beginning of the present centuiy there were scarcely any 
family names at all in Wales ; the baptismal name of the 
father generally constituting the surname of the son. Thus, if 
Morgan Richards had three sons, John, Y\ r illiam, and Grif- 
fith, they would be called John Morgan, William Morgan, 
Griffith [Morgan. John Morgan's two sons, Peter and James, 
would be called Peter Jones [i.e., John's, or son of John) 
and James Jones. William Morgan's sons, Job and Abel, 
would be Job Williams and Abel Williams. Griffith 
Morgan's sons, Howel and Cadwallader, would be Howel 
Griffiths and Cadwallader Griffiths." — Lower's Patronymia 
Briiannica. 

The Welsh are, however, as is well known, a people very 
careful of their genealogies. Thus Hugh, son of Howel, in 
the family supposed, would readily tell us that he was Hugh- 
ap-Howel-ap-Grifhth-ap-Morgan-ap, &c., to ten generations or 
more. But this would be a very inconvenient and unsatisfactory 
mode of description in deeds of purchase or wills. Iceland 
also forms an existing exception from the general practice of 
civilized nations in this matter. A recent traveller informs 
us that " there are only sixty- three Icelandic surnames. 
Few people have got any ; the custom is, after telling one's 
own Christian name, when asked 'Whose son are you?' to an- 
swer, in old Hebrew fashion, son of, or daughter of, so and 
so. There are 530 men's Christian names and 529 women's 
names muse." — Symingtorfs Pen and Pencil Sketches of Faroe 
and Iceland, p. 182. 



46 ON SURNAMES, 

of the social economy of nations may perhaps dis- 
cover the reason why the Hebrews and Greeks 
could do without family names, and why we can- 
not ; why they never appear to have thought of 
them, and why they are to our ideas as natural 
and as indispensable as general terms, or the class- 
names of objects. It may also be ascertained what 
those elements were in the condition of society 
among these races, which hindered the develop- 
ment of the system, and what are the principles to 
which we must ascribe its growth, establishment, 
and nearly universal prevalence among all modern 
civilized nations. It is not a part of our present 
design to enter upon the investigation of this sub- 
ject. But, having noticed the fact of the non- 
existence of hereditary surnames among the He- 
brews, and certain circumstances which render 
that fact remarkable, and having shewn what 
were the nearest approximation to such names, 
or rather what were the substitutes for them, we 
pass on to the consideration of various classes 
of personal proper names which we meet with in 
the Bible. 

And here we desire to have it understood that, 

in making our observations on Scripture names, 

we shall not assume on the part of our readers any 

ree of proficiency in Oriental learning, or any 

experience in philological inquiries. At the same 



ON SURNAMES. 47 

time, in inviting the attention of diligent readers 
of the Word of God to the etymology and interpre- 
tation of numerous Hebrew words and names, we 
are conducting them on a track with which they 
cannot be altogether unfamiliar. They are ac- 
quainted, by the explanations occurring in the 
sacred text itself, with the signification of many 
proper names and titles belonging to both persons 
and places. And the marginal notes of our 
authorized version, and of various editions of the 
Bible, have supplied them with much additional 
information of the same kind. Without any claim, 
for the most part, to Hebrew scholarship — without 
even having made the attempt to master the gram- 
matical rudiments of the language, the ordinary 
student of the Scriptures cannot fail to possess a 
somewhat considerable knowledge of Hebrew. In 
fact, by means of the Old Testament names, and 
the Hebrew terms and phrases which have become 
" household words" in the " household of faith," 
it would be quite possible for Christian persons, 
speaking different vernacular languages, to com- 
municate many thoughts and feelings to each other. 
A pleasing incident, illustrative of this possibility, 
was related some years ago, by an eminent minister 
of the gospel, at a public meeting in London of 
one of our great societies. In a large company of 
persons, composing the crew and passengers of a 



4 3 ON SURNAMES. 

ship bound on a long voyage, there happened to 
be two, and only two, real Christians. But they 
were entirely unknown to each other personally, 
or by character. Each of them for several days 
had reason to believe, from the ungodliness and 
immorality which prevailed in all quarters, that he 
was the only person in the vessel that had the fear 
of God before his eyes. And each of them mourned 
in secret over his own spiritual desolateness, and 
the unhappy condition of those by whom he was 
surrounded. On a certain day one of them was 
seated in a retired corner of the deck, reading and 
meditating upon the Word of Life, w T hen circum- 
stances led the other to the same spot, sought 
by him probably for the same purpose. He was 
not long in discovering how his fellow-passenger 
was engaged, and ventured to accost him with a 
remark of a religious nature. But he received no 
intelligible reply. It appeared they were not of the 
same country, and did not understand each other's 
language. They were soon, however, enabled 
mutually to ascertain the fact that they both loved 
the Holy Book which had been their introduction 
to each other, and that they both were disciples of 
the same gracious Master and Saviour whom it 
reveals. They strove to express their pleasure and 
thankfulness at this recognition of their fellowship 
in Christ They tried what they knew of one 



ON SURNAMES. 49 

language, and then of another, but no tongue was 
familiar to them both. They joined right hands ; 
they grasped each both hands of the other ; they 
shook hands vigorously again and again, but they 
could not be satisfied. Their hearts were bursting 
with the desire to give utterance to their feelings 
in words. At last one cried Hallelujah, and the 
other immediately responded Amen. There was, 
after all, a common language in which their joy 
and gratitude could find expression, and their 
spirits hold communion \ and that language was, 
literally, "the language of Canaan." 



III. 



NAMES OF GOD. 



HE first name which claims our attention 
is the name of God. The people of 
Israel had a name for the Divine Being, 
which was, most strictly speaking, a proper name, 
since it was never applied, in any sense, or in any 
circumstances, to any other being. This was the 
name Jehovah. But the word, or words, existing in 
their language, and equivalent to our word God, or 
" the Deity," may also be correctly considered as 
proper names, although they were used as appella- 
tives, or class terms, denoting Deity in the abstract, 
or the imaginary divinities whom the heathen wor- 
shipped, and sometimes as titles of superior be- 
ings, possessing an exalted nature or office, both in 
heaven and in earth. For it was thoroughly under- 
stood among the Israelites, however they chose to 
act contrary to their better knowledge, that there 
was only one Being in the universe to whom the 



NAMES OF GOD. 51 

name of God, signifying Deity, did of right belong. 
They were, in fact, as a nation, the appointed wit- 
nesses, though very unfaithful ones, of the unity of 
the Godhead. This truth it was the object of their 
sacred books, from the earliest to the latest, to 
teach ; and it was preserved in the world, notwith- 
standing all their apostasies and infidelities, by 
means of their national literature. The word 
God, therefore, in their language, in its primary and 
principal use, did not signify the Divine nature, 
nor had it the indefinite meaning " a god," as if 
there were " gods many and lords many >; in real 
existence, but it represented a single personal 
Being, known to them in His personality and unity 
by express revelation. In its one only perfectly 
correct application it was a proper name. 

We have already shewn that, in the sacred writ- 
ings, and, according to their testimony, in the 
language and common apprehension of the Israel- 
itish people, the phrase, ' name of God/ or i name 
of the Lord,' had a remarkable idiomatic meaning. 
It implied the fact just referred to, that a peculiar 
manifestation of the nature and character of God 
had been made to them, and a knowledge of Him 
thereby communicated, which enabled them to 
enjoy consciously the blessedness of His spiritual 
presence and favour. Although in mbst instances 
of the employment of this phrase there is no 



52 NAMES OF GOD. 

special allusion to any actual title or name, it is 
obviously consistent with such a form of speech, 
and almost required by the principle on which it 
is based, that the term or name designating the 
Divine Being should be significant of some dis- 
tinguishing qualities of His nature, should express 
some notion by which He was conceived of, or had 
been revealed. We know by historical evidence 
that this was the fact with respect to one of His 
great names, (Jehovah,) and we can trace, by aid 
of grammatical analogy and analysis, the meaning 
of the others, though not with equal certainty in 
each case. 

The word God is represented in the Hebrew 
Scriptures by three terms, Elohim, El, EloaJi. We 
have stated them in the order in which they occur. 
Elohim is the word for God in the first chapter of 
Genesis, and generally throughout that book ; and 
is far more frequently employed than the other two 
in the whole of the Bible. El occurs in very early 
passages of the same book, as forming part of 
proper names, or of compound names for God \ 
afterwards, repeatedly by itself as His name. 
Eloali is found for the first time, we believe, in 
the Song of Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy; 
and afterwards, for the most part, in the poetical, 
or later books of Scripture. It occurs repeatedly 
in the Psalms, and thirty-seven times in the Book 



NAMES OF GOD. 53 

of Job. There is good reason for supposing that 
these three words are closely related in meaning, 
as at first sight they must certainly appear to every 
one to' be. For the syllable £/, which forms the 
whole of one of them, is the first syllable, and un- 
doubtedly the principal or elementary syllable, of 
the other two. It presents, therefore, the appear- 
ance of the root, or simplest and earliest form of 
the Divine name, that from which the others are 
derived. But there are difficulties in the way of 
this account of the affinity of the three terms, 
arising from the principles which regulate the for- 
mation of Hebrew words. And, in fact, the ma- 
jority of grammarians and lexicographers trace the 
words EloaJi and Elohim to an origin apparently 
quite independent, in their view, of the word EL 

There is, however, a nearly general agreement 
as to the derivation and meaning of El itself. It 
signifies strength, might, power. It is used in that 
sense as a common noun ; and various derivatives 
from the same root involve evidently the same 
primary notion. Thus in Gen. xxxi. 29, "it is in 
the power \et\ of my hand;" Prov. iii. 27, Ezek. 
xxxi. n, "the mighty one [<?/] of the heathen.;" so 
xxxii. 21. Eylis " powerful," and also, " a fir-tree •/' 
and ayl, " a ram." The tree and the animal are both 
named from the general idea "strength." Employed 
as the name of the Supreme Being, El means " The 



54 NAMES OF GOD. 

powerful One," the Being who is Power, in whom 
it naturally and necessarily resides, in whom it 
originates, without whom it could not be, and who 
exercises it universally. It has, therefore, the sense 
of The absolutely Powerful, The Almighty. Further, 
it expresses that attribute of God which, in our 
minds, is most obviously and closely connected 
with our ideas of Him as Creator, Preserver, Ruler 
of all. Thus St Paul asserts that " the invisible 
things [i.e., attributes] of him from [since] the crea- 
tion of the world are clearly seen, being understood 
by the things which are made, even his eternal 
power and Godhead" (Rom. i. 20.) The name, 
therefore, which declared the " eternal power and 
Godhead n of Him to whom it belonged, was a 
symbol of belief in Him as the Maker of heaven 
and earth. But, in the case of the people of 
Israel, it was not merely a name which had resulted 
from the impression of power made upon the mind 
by the consideration of the works of God in crea- 
tion ; it was a name by which God had chosen to 
reveal Himself to their fathers, which, if not in the 
first instance directly communicated by Himself, 
was recognised by Him as rightly representing His 
nature. By this name He had spoken of Himself 
in His manifestations to Abraham and Jacob, (Gen. 
xvii. 1, xxi. 22, xxxi. 13, xxxv. II.) 

Hence we learn that it was and is the will of 



NAMES OF GOD. 55 

God that this great attribute of His nature, Power, 
Almighty power, and that as exemplified and pre- 
sented to us by His works, should form a pro- 
minent and constant element in our conception of 
Him. And when we consider that this name has 
been chosen or adopted by a personal Being, dis- 
tinct from all other beings, and with whom man is 
capable of holding converse, we are by the fact 
guarded against the error of regarding power in 
the abstract, the forces of nature, the laws of 
nature, or nature itself, as Deity, an error by which 
Deity is severed from intelligence and personality. 
The history 7 of the name, combined with its ety- 
mology, teaches us not that power is God, but 
that God is power, not that a principle necessarily 
connected with the existence of matter, and uni- 
versally acting in it or upon it, and so producing 
and regulating all things that are, is Deity ; but 
that the Deity is a personal Being possessing that 
attribute, among others, to which the existence, 
action, and effects of that principle are due. 

But an important moral result was undoubtedly 
intended and secured by God's revelation of Him- 
self under this character. Fear is the sentiment 
naturally corresponding to the apprehension of the 
infinite power of Him "in whom we live, and 
move, and have our being/' and "with whom/"' a\ 
all times, "we have to do." The religious phrase- 



56 NAMES OF GOD. 

ology of the Hebrew language bears testimony to 
this practical effect of such a predominant notion 
of God. In the Old Testament, personal religion 
— that is, a right state of mind towards God, and a 
right course of behaviour thence proceeding — is 
generally expressed by the terms, "the fear of God/' 
" the fear of the Lord.'"' This phrase is of early 
occurrence ; and, indeed, is of the same date in 
the sacred record with God's explicit revelation of 
Himself to the patriarchs by the name of the 
Powerful One, the Almighty. And it is worthy of 
notice that, at the same period, the Being known to 
Jacob and worshipped by him under the name 
Power, is also designated by him Fear — that is, the 
object of fear ; he calls Him " the God of my 
father, the God of Abraham, the Fear of Isaac f 
and is said to have sworn a solemn oath by " the 
fear of his father Isaac." Thus, long afterwards, 
Isaiah exhorts the faithful of his time, " Neither fear 
ye their fear, [i.e., the object of popular fear,] nor 
be afraid : sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and 
let him be your fear, and let him be your dread." 
Fear, in its ordinary sense, is certainly meant in 
this passage, as is evident by comparison of its 
clauses. And such fear is acknowledged repeatedly 
by the most eminent servants and saints of the Lord. 
But, modified by a further and fuller revelation 
of God than that which makes Him known princi- 



XAJJES OF GOD. S7 

pally by His attribute of Power, it becomes devout 
awe and filial veneration, a solemn sense of abso- 
lute subjection, a feeling of contented and dutiful 
submission to His will. 

Another sentiment connected with the appre- 
hension of God as the .Ill-powerful, is that of entire 
dependence upon Him, of trust and confidence in 
Him. When it is known, by covenant or promise, 
or by the fact of actual gracious communications, 
that a relation is established between God and 
man, which secures to us, on certain conditions, 
the enjoyment of His favour; and when in our 
own consciousness these conditions have been 
fulfilled, the contemplation of God as the Being 
possessed of absolute power cannot fail to create 
in us a sense of security. We have, in such a case, 
a beneficial interest in His Almightiness. If He 
who can do all things, and in whose disposal are 
all circumstances and events, is our Friend, His 
Omnipotence is engaged on our behalf, and we can 
experience no real harm, or loss, or danger. 
Hence the feeling to which full expression is 
given by the prophet Isaiah when, speaking in the 
name of Israel, he says, " Behold, God [El] is my 
salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid. " 

We come now to the examination of the other 
two words for God, EloaJl and Elohim, and of 
their relation to each other, and their probable 



53 NAMES OF GOD. 

relation to El. Elohim is a plural form \ im, as 
must be well known to all readers of the Bible, be- 
ing the plural termination of Hebrew words, an- 
swering to the English termination s or es. Thus 
cherubim is the plural of cherub, seraphim of ser- 
aph.'"' Postponing for the present the consideration 
of the meaning of the plural form, and fixing our 
attention on the construction and derivation of the 
words, we observe that Elohim cannot be the plu- 
ral of El; for that, according to the analogy of the 
examples just referred to, must necessarily be 
Elim. Accordingly, we find the word Elim used 
in the sense of u gods : " — u Who is like unto thee, 
O Lord, among the gods ? " or, as the margin ren- 
ders, "mighty ones/'" (Exod. xv. n.) So in Ps. 
xxix. i; Ps. lxxxix. 6, "sons of the mighty ones." 
In both these passages the ancient Greek trans- 
lation (the Septuagint) renders " sons of God," 
as if the word Elim were the same as Elohim. 
and meant, as Elohim usually does, "God." 
"Sons of God" would then be here, as in Job 
i. 6, xxxviii. 7, angels, or heavenly intelligences. 

* In the authorized version of the Bible these words are 
printed cherubims and seraphim?, as if cherubim and 
seraphim meant each a single being. In most other editions, 
: the Paragraph Bible, the error is corrected by the 
don of the termination j. In the Te Deum they have 
always preserved the right form — "To Thee cherubin and 
seraphin continually do cry." 



NAMES OF GOD. 59 

But in Dan. xi. 36 the word certainly stands for 
gods : — " he shall magnify himself against even- 
god, [El,] and shall speak marvellous things against 
the God of gods/"' (El Elim.) El, therefore, has 
its plural, which is Elim, not Elohim. But Elohim 
is the plural of EloaJi: and as regularly formed 
from it as Elim is from El. The question now is, 
what is the root and formation of EloaJi ? There 
are, or have been, those who would derive it imme- 
diately from El; supposing that the second and 
third syllables (or letters) and aJi were added as 
intensives, to increase the significance of the word, 
and give it the meaning " most mighty " or " Al- 
mighty/"' But it is almost certain, from the prin- 
ciples and analogy of the language, that the word 
El would not admit of this summary process of 
double intensive augmentation. If we can at all 
trace EloaJi to El, it must be by a more circuitous 
route. 

EloaJi is a word of the class which grammarians 
call verbal nouns — that is, nouns derived from verbs, 
and mostly either from participles or from the infi- 
nitive mood. If derived from participles, they 
usually denote the person or thing acting, or to- 
wards which action is directed \ if from the infini- 
tive mood, they denote the action itself or effect of 
it. EloaJi, by its meaning, seems plainly referable 
to the former class. If it owes its origin, then, to 



60 NAMES OF GOD. 

a participle, we know by analogy that this would 
be the participle of a verb of the form AlaJi* But 
there is no known verb in the Hebrew language of 
this precise form. It is no uncommon thing, how- 
ever, for verbal nouns to exist that cannot be 
traced to any verb in Hebrew which could origi- 
nate their meaning, while exactly the verb that is 
wanted is found in one of the closely-related lan- 
guages — Syriac or Arabic. In this case, we have 
an Arabic verb of the exact form required, written 
and pronounced as the Hebrew verb AlaJi would 
be. And this verb has the meaning to fear, to 
adore, to worship. Now, observing that EloaJl be- 
longs to the class of those participial forms which 
denote frequently the object of the action, its signi- 
fication will most likely be " the Adored," " the 
Worshipped," or " the Adorable," " the Worshipful 
One." And grammarians notice that this form of 
verbal nouns implies habit, or custom, of such action 
as the root may signify. E/oa/i, then, it will be at 
once seen, is a most suitable name for God, and a 
name of a highly practical character. It sets Him 
forth not only as the object of a sentiment, but of 
an action which is a duty. Those who called Him 
by this name acknowledged that they owed Him 
distinct and special homage, a service of praise 

* The first a in this word and the E in Ehahzxt the same 
, though differently sounded. 



NAMES OF GOD. 61 

and worship ; and they professed that they ren- 
dered it, that they habitually approached Him with 
the offerings and utterances of devotion. The 
word implies the existence of what we understand 
by "a religion" — that is, a creed, a profession, and 
the formal stated act of private and public worship. 
If we might hazard a conjecture as to the time or 
occasion of the origin of this, or some equivalent 
term, as a name of God, we should be disposed to 
refer it to a date very precisely marked in Scrip- 
ture, the age of Seth, the third son of Adam, the 
period when " men began to call upon the name 
of the Lord." For these words are generally, and 
with good reason, understood to signify that at that 
time the practice of formal and regular worship 
was instituted, (compare Gen. xii. 8, xiii. 4.) Very 
naturally, when people began to gather together in 
assemblies, for the purpose of uniting in the pre- 
sentation of thanks and prayer to God, the preva- 
lent sense of duty, the awakened spiritual feeling, 
would express itself in a title given to God, desig- 
nating Him as " the Worshipped," " the object of 
worship," the Being who demanded and accepted 
the adoration of the creatures whom He had 
" formed for himself, that they should shew forth his 
praise." The sentiment of the word is developed 
by David in the opening of the sixty-fifth psalm : — 
" Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion : and unto 



62 NAMES OF GOD. 

thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that 
hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come/' 

This ancient and primitive name of God, under- 
stood as we have explained it, is a testimony of 
the early patriarchal Church, perhaps of God him- 
self, to a Divine prerogative and a human duty. 
Not only does it represent Him as the sole Being 
in the universe to whom worship is due, or may be 
lawfully paid ; but as the Being whose indefeasible 
right it is, and who claims it from every rational 
creature. It is a testimony, therefore, against 
many who profess to be members of the Christian 
Church in our own day, and in our own country. 
They practically deny the prerogative of God which 
it asserts, in neglecting their own corresponding 
duty. They who " forsake the assembling of them- 
selves together " in the sanctuary — they who never 
bow the knee or lift the heart in secret prayer, do 
not, in their spontaneous thoughts, connect the 
idea of God with the idea of worship — ideas which 
this name EloaR unites as inseparable. God is 
not, in their practice or feeling, identical with the 
Adorable, the Worshipped, and Worshipful One. 
Thus, although they may outwardly acknowledge 
God, yet they evidently refuse to "render unto 
him the honour due unto his name." Neglect of 
r, public and private, is not only the neglect 
of a Divine ordinance and Divine command, but 



NAMES OF GOD. 63 

it amounts to a denial and rejection of God him- 
self. On the other hand, they who really know 
God, and receive His revelation of Himself in His 
Word, manifest this fact, and make their acknow- 
ledgment of Him by worship. As it was, appa- 
rently, in the earliest times, so it is now \ worship 
is the act and sign of a religious profession and 
character. The homage and adoration of the soul 
is the evidence to the individual, the outward 
attendance upon religious ordinances is the evi- 
dence to the Church and the world, of a man's 
recognition of God as the object of personal faith, 
trust, love, and obedience. " With the heart man 
believeth unto righteousness, but with the mouth 
confession is made unto salvation." 

Although sound grammatical principles may be 
opposed to the opinion that EloaR is only El in 
an augmented form, and although the two words 
may have the distinct meanings which have been 
discussed, it is yet more than probable, as we have 
already stated, that they are etymologically con- 
nected. EloaR, it will be remembered, is consi- 
dered derivable from the verb AlaJi, a verb which 
is not found in Hebrew, but is common in Arabic 
in the sense of " adore," " worship." There is, 
however, a Hebrew verb written with the same 
letters, (the first two of which are the letters of the 
word El,) and pronounced Ala, which has the 



u4 NAMES OF GOD. 

meaning "swear," "make oath/' "curse." and is 
derived by competent authority from the word EI, 
God, its proper or primitive meaning being " to in- 
voke God." In like manner, the other verb, Alah, 
may also be formed from EI, and get the significa- 
tion "adore," "worship," immediately from the 
proper or primitive notion of action towards God. 
It is rendered by some in its first sense, " fear," 
"be afraid," which is a verbal notion obviously 
correlative to the substantive notion "power," 
primarily belonging to the word EL 

The next point of importance in our examina- 
tion of these Divine names is the signification of 
the plural ending im in the word Elohim, which is 
by far the most frequent name of God in the Old 
Testament Scriptures. This word is undoubtedly 
the regularly formed plural of Eloah; and as such 
should have the meaning gods. It has this mean- 
ing in numerous passages in which it is applied to 
the false deities of the heathen ; and is used as a 
plural when denoting, as it does in a few places, 
angelic beings, or magistrates, or eminent men. 
In Exod. xxi. 6, xxii. 8, 9, the word translated 
"judges" in our version is Elohim; but the parallel 
passage, Deut. xix. 17, makes it not improbable 
that God himself is meant, — an Israelitish court of 
justice being really His tribunal. The ancient 
tuagint) renders it thus. So 



NAMES OF GOD. 65 

in Exod. xxii. 2S, "Thou shalt not revile the gods, 
(a. v.,) nor curse the rulers of thy people/'' many 
understand by Elohim, "judges/" as corresponding 
to ••rulers"'" in the second clause. Here the Sep- 
tuagint has " gods.''" The word rendered " angels/'' 
in Ps. viii. 6, is Elohim; and here " angels'' is the 
translation of the Septuagint, adopted by St Paul 
in Heb. ii. 7-9. That version has also u angels" 
for Elohim in Ps. cvii. 7, " Worship him, all ye 
gods," (a. v.) It is the same in Ps. cxxxviii. 1. "I 
have said ; ye are gods/"'"' in Ps. Lxxxii. 6, is certainly 
addressed to men in high station, (see John x. 34. 
35.) Hence it is probable that the term Elohim 
in the first verse, " He is a judge among gods," is 
used for magistrates or princes. When the Witch 
of Endor says, (1 Sam. xxviii. 13.) " I saw gods 
(Elohim) ascending out of the earth," she means 
supernatural beings, or powers. And, in the lan- 
guage of the tempter, (Gen. hi. 5,) " Ye shall be 
as gods," the word has perhaps the same sense, 
though here we may reasonably render, " Ye shall 
be as God." But when Elohim is employed to 
designate the one true and only God, it has, for 
the most part, the usual construction of a noun 
in the singular number \ that is. it is joined 
with a verb or pronoun which is also singular. 
Thus, in Gen. i. 1, " Elohim created the heavens 
and the earth." created is expressed in Hebrew by 

E 



66 NAMES OF GOD. 

a verb with a singular termination. And in Isa. 
xxv. 9, " This is our God/'' (Elohim,) the Hebrew 
word for this is singular. There are, however, a 
few exceptions in which plural verbs, and more fre- 
quently plural adjectives, are joined with Elohim 
when it means God. In such cases, the writer has 
had regard to the form of the word rather than its 
signification; and has made the verbs and adjec- 
tives agree with it formally, but not so as to suggest 
to the apprehension of his readers a plural meaning 
of Elohim. The verbs and adjectives are adapted 
to the noun, as in Greek and Latin to such words 
as Athens, (Athenas,) Thebes, (Thebae,) which, 
having a plural ending, are, in those languages, 
joined with plural adjectives and verbs, understood 
in the sense of the singular. The following are in- 
stances of this usage : — In Gen. xx. 13, " When 
Elohim caused me to wander from my father's 
house," caused is plural; so is judge in Gen. xxxi. 53. 
" The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, and 
the God of their father, judge betwixt us ;" and "ap- 
peared" in Gen. xxxv. 7, " He called the place El- 
beth-el, because there Elohim appeared to him." In 
Ps. lviii. 12, " Verily he is a God that judgeth in the 
earth/' the word judgeth is, in Hebrew, a plural par- 
ticiple ; and, in 2 Sam. vii. 23, " Whom God went to 
redeem to himself/' went is in the plural, himself 
being in the singular. The adjective holy is plural 



NAMES OF GOD. 67 

in Josh. xxiv. 19, "He is a holy God;" and so is 
living in the expression, " the living God/ ; (Deut. 
v. 26, 1 Sam. xvii. 26, 36.) These are nearly all 
the examples that occur of the recognition of the 
plural form of Elohim in its construction with other 
verbs. 

This full and particular statement of the usage of 
the word Elohim has been given in order to enable 
the reader the better to understand, and form a 
judgment upon, the different modes of accounting 
for the employment of a word having a plural form 
as the name of God. It is the opinion of many 
commentators, ancient and modern, some of whom 
have been considerable Hebrew scholars, that a 
great " mystery of godliness " is latent in this word. 
It involves, they think, the doctrine of the Trinity. 
Its plural form is understood by them as designed 
to imply, or rather to express, the fact of a plu- 
rality of Persons in the Godhead. And its usual 
construction, as a noun in the singular, with a sin- 
gular verb, is further supposed to indicate the com- 
bination of the Divine persons in essential unity. 
All who are conversant with the subject of etymo- 
logies will freely admit that facts and truths of 
great importance are often condensed into single 
words, and that words are often the repositories of 
historical information.* And, as we have seen in 
* See Archbishop Trench on the Study of Words. 



68 NAMES OF GOD. 

the case of Eloah, and shall have occasion here- 
after to notice, the peculiar signification of a word 
may depend upon its grammatical or modal struc- 
ture \ that is, upon that part of it which is common 
to it with other words of the same class, as well as 
upon that part of it which is termed "radical," — 
the part which supplies its root-form, and contains 
its primary and original idea. There is, in fact, no 
doubt but that the ending im in Elohim involves a 
definite notion additional to that conveyed by 
EloaJi or EL The only question is, whether the 
name indicates absolute plurality, or is a conven- 
tional form having some other meaning. Now, if 
the name Elohim expressed by its termination a 
plurality of Persons in the Godhead, it seems 
strange that it should not be so understood univer- 
sally by the Hebrew nation. But it is certain that 
the doctrine was not so revealed by the name, and 
acknowledged, as to form an article of faith under 
the patriarchal or Mosaic dispensation. Besides, 
the plural ending im would express mere plurality, 
not a Trinity, and so would not teach the real 
truth concerning the Divine nature. Without some 
other more explicit revelation, which we find no- 
where given in the Old Testament, the Israelites 
would have been left to conjecture the number of 
Persons in the Godhead. Again, we find that this 
word Elohim is frequently employed by the sacred 



NAMES OF GOD. 69 

writers in speaking of a single false deity. Thus 
the word is applied to Dagon, (Judg. xvi. 23,) and 
his image, (1 Sam. v. 7 ;) to Baal, (1 Kings xviii. 
27 ;) to Baal-zebub, (2 Kings i. 2, 3, 6, 16;) to Nis- 
roch, (2 Kings xix. 37 ;) to any false god indefi- 
nitely, (Exod. xxiii. 20, Micah iv. 5 :) and when the 
Lord says to Moses, " See, I have made thee a 
god to Pharaoh," (Exod. vii. 1,) the word for god is 
Elohim. Now, in these instances, we are certain 
that no idea of plurality is attached to the word. 
Moreover, if by its plural ending it expressed the 
mode of existence of the only true God, it would 
certainly be limited to Him, and it would no more 
be applied to a single false god, or an image, or 
a man, than could the word Jehovah. It was al- 
ways possible for the writer in such cases to 
use the word El, as indeed the prophet Isaiah 
always does when he is speaking of a false god or 
idol. 

These considerations, though briefly stated, will 
be felt to be serious objections to the opinion, at 
one time very prevalent, that the employment of 
the plural word Elohim in the sense of the singular, 
to denote the one only God, resulted from the 
early knowledge and revelation of the great truth 
of the Trinity in Unity. 

The plural form of the Divine name is accounted 
for by some, and especially by Jewish expositors, as 



;o NAMES OF GOD. 

a mode of expressing the abundance and diversity 
of attributes combined in Deity. Some such force 
must certainly be ascribed to the termination hn 
in many words which are found only or frequently 
in the plural form, but with a singular meaning.. 
Thus, for example, datnim is put for " blood/' 01 
" bloodshed," instead of the singular dam, convey- 
ing, as many think, the notion of bloodshed in 
copious effusion. So " life" is often in Hebrew 
chayyim, " lives/' when more than the ordinary no- 
tion of life is implied, as Gesenius explains "life" 
(lives) in Gen. ii. 9 to be "a longer, diviner life;" 
and the word for face, pdnim, is found only in the 
plural form, probably with reference to the number 
of features, or the diversity of looks. 

There is a somewhat analogous use of the 
plural termination which will perhaps appear to 
most minds to lead much more directly and na- 
turally to the interpretation of the word Elohim 
employed as a singular noun to denote Deity. 
The syllables im and oth in derivatives of various 
common nouns of frequent occurrence, and belong- 
ing to the class of personal appellatives, express 
state or condition. Thus, nahar is " a boy," ne- 
hurim and "nehuroih? "childhood;" helcm, "a 
youth/' heluviim, "youth," the state of a young 
man or woman ; zaqen, " an old man," zcqwmim, 
"old age;" almdna, "a widow," almanuth and 



NAMES OF GOD. 71 

alnwuithim^ "widowhood;" bethula, "a virgin," 
bethulim, virginity, the state of maidenhood. It 
will be seen that the plural ending im in these 
words entirely corresponds to our ending hood or 
head, signifying state or condition. Hence we may 
reasonably conjecture that by the addition of im 
to Eloa/i, the word Elohim so formed, when a 
singular noun, was made to express the same idea 
as our word "Godhead;" and, therefore, that Elo- 
him means Ci Deity," " The Deity," or i: a Deity," 
according to its context. It is difficult to account 
metaphysically for this usage of the plural termina- 
tion, to trace the process of thought by which the 
notion of plurality, or number, expanded itself, or 
became generalised, into that of state or condition ; 
but the difficulty does not affect the matter of fact 
that the Hebrews had such a method of expressing 
this notion, or the probability that the word Elohim 
is an example of it. 

But the majority of grammarians are agreed to 
consider the word as an instance of another pecu- 
liarity of the Hebrew and its cognate languages — 
namely, the use of the plural ending, when a single 
person or object is spoken of, to denote excess, 
excellence, dignity, or, in fact, superlativeness of 
any kind. This is an idiom which may easily be 
conceived to have originated in the universally 
perceived affinity of the idea of quantity with that 



72 NAMES OF GOD. 

of quality, of addition or increase with that of ex- 
cess and superiority in general. Thus, in our own 
language, much is identical with mickle, or muckle, 
a word formerly, and, in the Scotch dialect still in 
use for great; more and most, properly adjectives of 
quantity, have become the common adverbs of com- 
parison, denoting respectively the higher and high- 
est degree of any conceivable quality. The late 
Professor Lee held it to be highly probable — more 
recent philologers perhaps consider it certain — that 
the plural termination attached to Hebrew nouns 
is nothing more than a fragment of some woid 
originally used to designate plurality. " In N the 
Malay and Sanskrit, and some other languages," 
he proceeds to observe, " the plural number is still 
formed by adding some word or words signifying 
much, many, or the like, or by repeating the same 
word."* It is not unlikely, as appears from the above 
examples in the English language, that the same 
word originally signified much and many, and there- 
fore might, as a prefixed word, signify either great- 
ness or plurality. And the expedient of repetition, 
noticed by Professor Lee as employed to denote 
plurality, is in use in many languages to denote 
greatness or superlativeness. It is so in Hebrew. 
The repetition of a noun sometimes indicates num- 
ber, as in Gen. xiv. 10, "The vale of Siddim was 

* Lee's Hebrew Grammar, Art. 139. 



NAMES OF GOD. 73 

pits pits/' — L&i "in the vale were many pits;" 
sometimes degree, as in Eccl. vii. 24, " That which 
is deep deep/' — i.e., "exceedingly deep;" and Isa. 
xxvi. 3, "Thou wilt keep him in peace peace/' — i.e., 
perfect peace. Compare also Exod. viii. 14, "upon 
heaps/' literally, "heaps heaps," — i.e., "in many 
heaps," or "in great heaps;" 2 Kings hi. 16, "full 
of ditches," literally, " ditches ditches." It is easy 
to understand, from this coincidence between modes 
of expressing plurality and excess, how similar co- 
incidence might arise between other modes for ex- 
pressing the same ideas; how, for instance, a postfix, 
or termination, which had come into general use 
for one, might, in many cases, be employed to 
denote the other. 

But, however we may account for the fact, it is 
certain that, in Hebrew, words are frequently found 
of the plural form, but not of the plural number ; 
and that, in most cases, this form is clearly expres- 
sive of greatness, dignity, excellence, or intensity 
of some kind. To give a few examples :— In Ps. 
xlix. 1-4, " My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and 
the meditation of my heart shall be of understand- 
ing," the words for " wisdom" and " understanding" 
are both plural, and mean, not different kinds of 
wisdom and understanding, but wisdom and under- 
standing of the highest kind. Wisdom, as personi- 
fied in Prov. ix. 1, is in the plural, the writer 



74 NAMES OF GOD. 

proceeding to represent her as surpassingly rich 
and bounteous. In Job xxi. 30, " the day of wrath" 
is literally " the day of wraths," — that is, of extreme 
wrath, equivalent to w the great day of His wrath." 
A faithful ambassador, in Prov. xiii. 17, is " an am- 
bassador of truths or fidelities" — that is, perfectly 
true or faithful ; so " a faithful witness," xiv. 5 ; 
"a faithful man," xx. 6. " Brazen walls," in Jer. i. 
18, has a singular signification, as is evident from 
xi. 20, and means "a strong brazen wall." Behe- 
moth, the plural form of behema, (although some 
think it an Egyptian word,) is, in Job xl. 15, the 
name of the largest of quadrupeds. In Ps. lxxiii. 
22, "/was as a beast before thee," its meaning is "a 
mere brute." Adonim, the plural of A don, lord, is 
in constant use as a title of dignity in speaking to 
or of a single person. It is applied to Pharaoh, to 
Joseph, to Saul, to David, and many others. It is 
also a title frequently given to God, being the word 
usually represented by the English word " Lord " 
when the initial L alone is printed as a capital 
letter; and we may remark, that if we do not assign 
to it any notion of plurality when it forms the title 
of a human being, but consider it equivalent to 
" Great Lord," there is no reason for understanding- 
it in a plural sense, or otherwise than as the word 
. intensified, when it is employed as a name of 
Other titles of God are also found with a 



NAMES OF GOD. 75 

plural termination, as not unfrequently Qedoshim, 
plural of Qedos/i, " holy/' which, by the analogy of 
the last example, must signify "most holy." In 
Ps. cxlix. 2, " Let Israel rejoice in Him that made 
him," is literally " in his makers," — that is, " his 
great Maker." In Isa. liv. 5, " Thy maker is thy 
husband,"" both words have a plural ending. " Re- 
member thy Creator," (Eccl. xii. 1,) is in Hebrew 
" Remember thy Creators," — i.e., thy great Creator. 
Helyon, " The most High," a frequent title of God 
in Scripture, has in Dan. vii. 18, 27, the plural form 
Helyonin, and is equivalent to the old English double 
superlative, " most Highest." 

If now we compare the use of the word Elohim 
in the Old Testament, as the name of God, with 
these examples, and especially with Ado?ii?n, to 
which it is so nearly allied, it will appear that its 
plural form is most naturally to be accounted for 
by the idiom which employs a plural termination 
to increase the force, or importance, or extent of 
the significance, of the noun to which it is attached. 
Its original meaning, therefore, as an augmented 
form of Eloa/l, God, would be "the great God;" 
or, reverting to the participal sense of the word 
Eloaft, as derived from the verb Ala/i, it might be 
understood to express "the most worshipful," the 
Being to whom reverence and adoration are su- 
premely due. 



76 NAMES OF GOD. 

On the same principle grammarians account for 
the few instances in which the plural verbs and 
pronouns are associated, otherwise than in close 
grammatical construction, with the word Elohim, 
or Adonim, used in the singular. In Gen. i. 26 
we read, " God said' ; {said being singular) " let us 
make man in our image after our likeness f in 
Gen. xi. 7, " Let us go down and there confound 
(pi.) their language;" in Isa. vi. 8, "Whom shall 
/send, who will go for us ?" The employment of 
the plural in proclamations by royal personages, 
and others in high office and dignity, is frequently 
alleged as illustrative of these passages. So, like- 
wise, may the German idiom, by which one indi- 
vidual accosts another as " they," when he wishes 
to address him in a complimentary or respectful 
style.* On the last of the passages just referred to 
it may be observed that, as Jehovah has just been 
represented as attended by the seraphim, the plural 
" for us " may be meant to include those mysterious 
heavenly beings ; and this may throw light on that 
very difficult passage in Gen. iii. 22, where God says, 
" Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know 

* In the Koran, when God is represented as speaking, the 
plural is as often used as the singular. But it is well known 
that the Koran denounces as impious the doctrine of a plu- 
rality in the Godhead. ''Behold, how we declare unto them 
the signs of God's unity; and then, behold how they turn 
aside from the truth," (chap, v.) 



NAMES OF GOD. 77 

good and evil/' an allusion, doubtless, and perhaps 
an ironical one, to the words of the tempter, (ver. 5,) 
" Ye shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil." 
If we consider us as including such spiritual in- 
telligences as the seraphim in Isaiah's vision, or 
the cherubim immediately afterwards mentioned in 
Gen. hi., the word Elohim in ver. 5 must be under- 
stood of these heavenly powers — a sense corrobo- 
rated by the plural rendering of our version, " Ye 
shall be as gods." A parallel to such associations 
of angelic beings with God himself is found in the 
words of our Lord, when He speaks of His coming 
to judgment, "in His own glory, and of His 
Father, and of the holy angels," (Luke ix. 26;) and 
in the solemn charge which St Paul addressed to 
Timothy, " before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and the elect angels," (1 Tim. v. 21.) 

The fact has been already noticed that, whereas the 
word Elohim occurs early and frequently as a divine 
name, the singular form Eloah — that from which, of 
course, the plural Elohim is derived — occurs but 
seldom, and principally in the poetical and later 
books of the Old Testament Scriptures. As it 
must have existed contemporaneously with Elohim, 
and, grammatically, before it, this difference in the 
usage of the words is remarkable. The word had 
probably gone out of general use, having been dis- 
placed by Elohim) before any portion of the Old 



78 NAMES OF GOD. 

Testament was written. It would, however, like 
many words and forms of words in other languages, 
be very naturally preserved in the poetic dialect, 
which always affects uncommon and antique terms. 
Thus in English, such words as " erst " for 
"formerly," "anon "for " immediately," " sheen " 
for "bright" or "brightness," "quoth" for "says," 
" shent" for blamed," are freely used in poetry, 
but seldom, if ever, in prose, though they were for- 
merly as common in prose as poetry. We have 
another example in Hebrew in the word Enosh, 
the singular of EnosAim, "men." The singular 
form Enos/i, " man," is found only in the poetical 
books of Job, and Isaiah, and the Psalms, and in 
prose in the Second Book of Chronicles, certainly 
one of the latest written books of the Old Testa- 
ment. But we know that the word was in existence 
in the very earliest times, since it is the name given 
to the son of Seth, the son of Adam. Having 
fallen out of use, and been preserved only in the 
poetical dialect, it appears to have again been 
adopted into the ordinary language in a later age. 
That the same circumstances may "have occurred in 
the history of the word Eloall will not seem at all 
improbable to those who have any acquaintance 
with the vicissitudes of human speech. 

Before quitting the consideration of these im- 
portant words, it is right that the reader should be 



NAMES OF GOD. 79 

informed of a derivation and original meaning, very 
different from that here proposed, which is assigned 
to them by a class of writers already alluded to as 
the Hutchinsonian school. They consider both 
words as immediately deducible from the verb Ala 
— " to swear," or "denounce/' or " curse. " Elohim 
— or, as they write and pronounce it, Aleim — they 
understand to be a personal plural noun, meaning 
" those who have denounced a curse/'' and so have 
bound themselves, or others, in covenant by it. The 
import of the title, they assert, is " sworn friends, 
allies, confederates," — that is, the Persons of the 
Trinity, denoted by the plural, confederate with 
the people of God against all opposers of the law, 
or covenant of grace. Eloah — written and pro- 
nounced by them, Alue — they take to be, as it is, 
a participle passive, or a noun having that form, 
and ascribe to it the sense of " one accursed," or, 
"subject to a curse." In this word they discover 
the mystery of the atonement, as expressed by St 
Paul : " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of 
the law, being made a curse for us," (Gal. iii. 13.) 
Parkhurst, one of the most learned of this school, 
in his "Greek Lexicon of the New Testament," 
thus comments on the Hebrew words Eli and 
Eloi, reported by Matthew and Mark, respectively, 
to have been uttered by our Lord on the cross, in 
the exclamation, "My God, my God, why hast 



8o NAMES OF GOD, 

thou forsaken me V 7 " The name Eloi, by which 
Jesus addressed the Father i about the ninth hour/ 
(Matt, xxvii. 4,) referred to God's power; but 
' at the ninth hour/ (Mark xv. 34,) when He was 
in the very jaws of death, He again cries out, 
Eloi, Eloi, Thou, Jehovah, who art not only El-i, 
my powerful God, but Eloi, bound to bear, to- 
gether with my humanity, the curse due to man for 
sin/' And so he interprets the word in Ps. xl. 8, 
" Teach me to do thy will/' (i.e., by offering myself 
a sacrifice for man,) " for thou art Eloi" my Alite. 
Contemporary and later Hebraists, and more 
accurate grammarians — entirely agreeing with 
Parkhurst, Hutchinson, Bate, Bishop Home, and 
other critics of the same class, in the belief of the 
doctrine of the Trinity, and of the Deity and 
sacrificial atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ — 
have adduced valid objections against their theory 
of the original meaning and formation of the word 
in question. Suffice it to say that it is certain that 
Elohim is the regularly formed plural of Eloah ; 
and that if Eloah were derived from the verb Ala, 
"to curse," its plural would necessarily be not 
Elohim, but Eloyim, — a form nowhere found, and 
not possibly interchangeable with Elohim. The 
greatness and importance of the difference cannot 
be well understood by any but scholars who have 
given much attention to the structure of the 



NAMES OF GOD. 81 

Hebrew language. By such, however, it will be 
duly estimated, and in their opinion must remain 
an insuperable barrier between Ala and Elohivi. 
On the other hand, the etymology which connects 
Elohim with Ala1i, " to adore/' and interprets it to 
mean " The great adorable One," is recognized as 
founded upon correct grammatical principles by 
the highest authorities in Hebrew literature. 



IV. 



THE NAMES OF GOD 

(JEHOVAH.) 



E have now to consider that Divine name 
which is, strictly and absolutely, the 
" proper name" of God, being uniformly 
appropriated to Him, and never given, in any case, 
to another being, real or imaginary. This is the 
name Jehovah. It occurs in the Old Testament 
with abundant frequency in two forms, Jehovah 
and Jah, (the former being the more usual,) and in 
numerous combinations ; and is the word in the 
Hebrew text, wherever in the authorised English 
version of the Bible we find the word Lord printed 
all in capitals. Many such passages become more 
clear and forcible, or even acquire a different mean- 
ing, which is, of course, the right one, if, in reading 
them, we substitute for the term Lord the actual 
name Jehovah. 

There can be no doubt as to the general signifi- 



NAMES OF GOD. 83 

cation of this great and holy name. The ety- 
mology is substantially expounded to us in the 
words of God himself. Moses, during that awful 
vision in the desert, when he stood before the bush 
which burned with fire and yet was not consumed, 
and heard the voice of God speaking to him out 
of the fire, asked what reply he should make if the 
children of Israel, to whom he was to be sent, 
should demand the name of the Being who sent him. 
The answer of God was, "I AM THAT I AM; 
and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children 
of Israel — I AM hath sent me unto you." The 
sacred historian, doubtless Moses himself, immedi- 
ately adds, that " God said moreover unto Moses, 
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 
Jehovah, the God of your fathers," (" the Lord 
God," in the English version,) " the God of Abra- 
ham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath 
sent me unto you j this is my name for ever, and 
this is my memorial unto all generations," (Exod. 
iii. 13-15.) In the words " This is my name," " This 
is my memorial," reference is certainly made to the 
name Jehovah, just announced, which must there- 
fore be synonymous with the declarations immedi- 
ately preceding it, I AM THAT I AM, and I AM, 
since these declarations are explicitly enunciated 
as the name of God. The importance of the ap- 
pellation, as possessing a deep significance, is 



84 NAMES OF GOD. 

further manifested in various portions of Holy 
Scripture, and at different periods of the history of 
the Old Testament Church, widely distant from 
each other. Thus, in the Sixty-eighth Psalm, a 
Psalm of David, Israel is exhorted (v. 5) to " extol 
him that rideth upon the heavens, by his name 
/ah" (or whose name consists of /ah.) God de- 
clares by the prophet Isaiah, (xlii. 8,) " I am 
Jehovah ; that is my name ; and my glory will I 
not give to another." And Hosea recalls to mind 
the declaration made to Moses, and connects it 
with the revelation previously granted to Jacob in 
Bethel, when he says, (xii. 5,) "There" (in Bethel) 
" he spake with us ; even Jehovah the God of hosts; 
Jehovah is his memorial" {i.e.) the name by which 
He is to be known and remembered among His 
people. In these passages, and in many of a 
similar import, it is plain that attention is called to 
the meaning of the word /eh ovah. 

That meaning, as has been stated, is settled by 
the clearly implied identity of the word with the 
expressions, «I AM THAT I AM," and "I AM." 
Grammatical analysis and analogy establish the 
fact \hdX/ehovah is a derivative of the verb " to be," 
which in Hebrew is usually hdydiji), but exists also 
in what was probably its primitive form, hava(h\ 
Under this latter form of the verb, the word which, 
regularly constructed, would denote "he is," or 



NAMES OF GOD. 85 

" he will be," has precisely the same letters as the 
word Jehovah, (viz. j, h, v, h,) but not, according 
to the generally received vowel-system of the Jews, 
the same pronunciation. It would be pronounced 
in two syllables, Jihve(h). Many eminent modern 
scholars write the sacred name Jahve, intimating a 
close connection of the noun with this verbal form. 
But a good reason to believe that the vowels used 
in giving to the name the pronunciation Jehovah 
are the right and primitive vowels of the word is 
found in the fact that the portions, or abbreviations, 
of the name occurring in the composition of other 
names can hardly have been pronounced otherwise 
than with these vowels. Such are Jeh or Jo, in 
Jehoram, or Joram, Jehoshaphat, Jonathan. The 
shorter form Ja A, is found in Elijah, Micaiah, Isaiah. 
We ascertain, to a certainty, the pronunciation of 
these names current among the Jews nearly three 
centuries before the Christian era, by means of the 
Greek translation called the Septuagint, which was 
executed at that period. 

If this view be correct, the word is doubtless 
compounded of two tense -forms of the verb 
hdvd(h) u to be; ; ' one of them, Jeho, a present 
or future, meaning " He is," or " He will be;" 
and the other, vah, abbreviated from hdvd(h), and 
meaning " He was." Some — as, for example, the 
learned Ben gel, but, probably, not any more recent 



86 NAMES OF GOD. 

Hebraists of eminence — find in the word three 
tenses, — the future, Jehi y of the verb hayd(h) ; the 
participle present, hove(7i), and the past or perfect, 
hava(h\ of the verb havd(Ji). There is consider- 
able diversity of opinion among Hebrew scholars 
as to the primary or appropriate meaning of the 
tense which has been usually called the future, — 
some maintaining that it is really future, and only 
by exception, or a process of conversion, present ; 
others that its proper time is present, but that in its 
use relatively to the writer or reader, or any action 
or event, it may represent future ox past time, as is 
the case in English, when, for example, a person 
says, " Next week I proceed to London," meaning, 
" I shall proceed f or, " having done this he pro- 
ceeds to London," meaning " he proceeded." The 
former class of grammarians would render the de- 
clarations by which God first announced Himself 
to Moses, " I will be," and " I will be what I will 
be ;" and the equivalent name either Jihvc(Ji), "He 
who will be," ox Jehovah, " He who will be and who 
was." The latter class, adopting the rendering of 
the English version, " I am," " I am that I am," 
and the interpretation of the Septuagint, " He who 
is," and " I am He who is," understand by the 
sacred name, " He who is," or " He who is and 
was." Our translators, it may be observed, with 
great propriety, use either the present or the future 



NAMES OF GOD. 87 

in dealing with this doubtful tense-form, regarding 
it as an indefinite tense, the expression of which in 
our language is to be regulated by circumstances 
and context. In the promise to Moses which 
preceded the announcement of the Divine name 
we read, " Certainty I will be with thee;" where 
"I will be" is the same word rendered afterwards 
" I am." It is obvious that the promise has in 
prospect the future ; and therefore the translators 
rightly use the English future, " I will be." At the 
same time, the words " certainly / am with thee" ; 
would have a future sense, and convey an assur- 
ance of continuous support perhaps even more 
distinctly than the actual future form. 

It appears, then, that whatever view be taken of 
the appropriate time of this Hebrew tense employed 
in the formation of the name Jehovah, it involves, 
as thus used, both the present and the future. 
And although rigid grammatical analysis may not 
allow that Bengel is right in asserting the formal 
existence of the three tenses, past, present, and 
future, in the elements of the name, it is certain 
they were apprehended of old as implied in it 
There can be little doubt but that the apostle 
John, in the Revelation, gives the interpretation of 
the ineffable name Jehovah, when he repeatedly 
speaks of God as the Being " which is, and which 
was, and which is to come/' (i. 4, 8, iv. S, xi. 17.) 



88 NAMES OF GOD. 

It is somewhat remarkable that, in these passages, 
he does not express the idea of futurity by the 
future participle of the verb " to be," but by the 
present participle (used in a future signification) of 
another verb, " to come f and further, in xvi. 5, 
the true reading of which unquestionably is, 
" Righteous art thou, which art, and which wast, 
(and) holy/' St John employs, as the title by which 
he addresses God, the resolution of the nzmz Jeho- 
vah into the two component parts, " He who is/' 
and " He who was/' assigned to it in the derivation 
previously explained. We are not, perhaps, entitled 
to infer that the apostle possessed a grammatical 
and critical knowledge of the meaning of the name, 
but it is evident that he had such a knowledge of its 
meaning as corresponds with its exact etymology. 

The grand, leading, and most obvious idea con- 
tained in this august name is that suggested by its 
entire composition. It is wholly made up from 
the word which signifies being, existence. It re- 
presents, therefore, the Being who is absolutely and 
essentially such — the necessarily existent one — 
Him who is and 71111st be. If not the revelation, it 
was the expression — or at least the formula and sym- 
bol — of the revelation of the unspeakably moment- 
ous and comprehensive truth of which Israel was 
the a] >i jointed witness and keeper — that God is One, 
Self-existent, eternal. This, too, is undoubtedly the 



NAMES OF GOD. 89 

full significance of the announcement of which it 
is the declared synonym — I AM. In its composite 
structure it may well be understood to denote also 
unchangeableness as an attribute of the Divine 
nature. " He is," and "He was f the same in the 
present — in all time present — and, therefore, in the 
future — as in the past. This attribute again is set 
forth in the words, " I am that I am," which must 
have been understood as identical with the name 
Jehovah, and which must mean not only " I am of 
myself and in myself alone," but also " what I am 
I continue ever to be." We may add, that person- 
ality is implied by the verbal form of the word 
Jehovah, as a whole, and of its constituents. This, 
the true proper name of God, is not an abstract 
term expressing existence, it is not - the infinitive 
"to be," nor the noun " life," but it is a proposi- 
tion concerning a subject, which subject is denoted 
by the first letter cf the word, " a prefix," as it is 
termed, corresponding to the English he. Still 
more clearly is this shown in its equivalent, I am y 
where the "prefix" is unquestionably the pronoun 
/, which, of course, implies both individualism and 
intelligent personality. 

These attributes of God are repeatedly, in the Old 
Testament Scriptures, asserted in so close a connec- 
tion with the name of Jehovah, that it is evident that 
they were^understood to be involved in it, and taught 



90 NAMES OF GOD. 

and acknowledged by means of it. Unity, self-ex- 
istence, eternity, unchangeableness, personality, are 
certainly proclaimed as identical with this name in 
such language as the following : " Ye are my wit- 
nesses, saith Jehovah . . . that ye may know and be- 
lieve me, and understand that I (am) he ; before me 
there was no God formed, neither shall there be 
after me. I (even) I (am) Jehovah, and beside 
me there is no Saviour," (Isa. xliii. u.) "Thus 
saith Jehovah .... Jehovah of hosts ; I (am) 
the first and I (am) the last, and beside me 
(there is) no God," (Isa. xliv. 6.) " Thus saith 
Jehovah that created the heavens, God himself 
that formed the earth ... I (am) Jehovah, and (there 
is) none else," (Isa. xlv. 18.) " I (am) Jehovah, 
I change not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not 
consumed," (Mai. hi. 6.) "Jehovah (is) the true 
God ; he (is) the living God and an everlasting 
king," (Jer. x. 10.) Bearing in mind that the word 
Jcli vah is the proper name of the true Deity, that 
it never was applied, as the words El or EloJiim 
repeatedly are, to inferior beings, or false gods, we 
can only satisfactorily account for its use in the fol- 
lowing passages by ascribing to it a well under- 
stood significance, as expressing the unique nature 
and the incommunicable attributes of God: "Hear, 
[srael, Jehovah our God (is) one Jehovah," 
Deut vi. 4.) "Jehovah shall be king over all 



NAMES OF GOD. 91 

the earth : in that day there shall be one Jehovah, 
and his name one," (Zech. xiv. 9.) a Blessed be 
thy glorious name, which is exalted above all bless- 
ing and praise. Thou, (even) thou, (art) Jehovah 
alone," (Xeh. ix. 6.) " That men may know that 
thou, whose name alone (is) Jehovah, (art) the most 
High over all the earth," (Ps. lxxxiii. 18.) " That 
all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou 
(art) Jehovah, (even) thou only," (Isa. xxxvii. 20.) 
Attentive readers of the Bible will remember how 
often the last-quoted phrase occurs in the Old 
Testament in various forms, — " They shall know," 
"Ye shall know, &c, that I am Jehovah," (the 
Lord ;) and they will at once, perceive how it rises 
in expressiveness and importance when the word 
Jehovah is apprehended in all the fulness of its 
meaning. 

Some notion of the difference between reading 
the word as a mere conventional name, like an 
ordinary proper name, and reading it with a per- 
ception of its actual meaning, may be obtained by 
contrasting our usage in translation with that 01 
the French versions of the Old Testament We 
employ the word Lord indiscriminately for the 
term Adonim, (or Adonai,) which may be addressed 
to men, and for the term Jehovah, which is appro- 
priate to God, distinguishing the latter only by print- 
ing Lord in capitals ; or, if in a few passages the 



92 NAMES OF GOD, 

word is enunciated, retaining its Hebrew form. 
But the French invariably translate Adonim by 
"Seigneur/' and Jehovah by " Eternel" or "L'eter- 
nel," the eternal one. The substitution of this word 
for Lord in the passages above quoted renders the 
sense much more clear and energetic, although 
even " The Eternal" does not by any means con- 
vey to the mind all that the Israelites must have 
understood hy Jehovah. 

Perhaps we do not, many of us, in conse- 
quence of our familiarity with great truths, and 
our privileged position under the gospel, suffi- 
ciently realize and estimate the wonderful fact 
implied in the worship of God under this name, 
and presented in the whole of those ancient 
records which, collectively, we call the Old Testa- 
ment. The people of Israel derived their origin 
from one great idolatrous nation, the Chaldean, 
and attained their own nationality in another, the 
Egyptian ; they were placed territorially between 
the two, and were at various periods greatly sub- 
ject to their influence. They occupied a land 
which had long been the seat of a most debasing 
polytheism ; and were surrounded by races and 
tribes all practising idolatry. And yet, among this 
people, by no means distinguished above their 
contemporaries for intelligence, learning, or civil- 
ization, there was established from the earliest 



NAMES OF GOD. 93 

period, and maintained throughout their genera- 
tions, a system of religion, a creed and worship, 
which proclaimed the unity of the Godhead, in op- 
position to polytheism on the one hand, and the 
personality of God, in opposition to the deification 
of universal nature on the other. Again, through- 
out the whole extant literature of this people, which 
is as diversified, for its extent, as the literature of 
any nation of antiquity, there is not to be found a 
sentence w T hich encourages the worship of another 
God beside the infinite and eternal Jehovah, or 
any practice approaching to idolatry. On the 
contrary, the greater part of it is a testimony and a 
protest against these errors. And this is the more re- 
markable, since the annals, and the didactic and pro- 
phetic writings, w T hich form so large a portion of their 
literature, afford abundant evidence of the tendency 
of the people to idolatry and polytheism, of their 
frequent lapses into both, and the continuance of 
their apostasy for considerable periods. 

The more deeply we meditate upon these pheno- 
mena, so completely unparalleled in the history of 
any other nation, the more confirmed must be our 
conviction that the character of the national reli- 
gion of the Israelites was due to Divine Revela- 
tion, and the character of their national literature 
to Divine Inspiration : and we may safely defy the 
so-called Rationalist, who denies the possibility of 



94 NAMES OF GOD. 

revelation and inspiration, to invent any theory 
accounting for the great doctrines of the Jewish re- 
ligion, and the Jewish writings, concerning God, 
without revelation and without inspiration, which 
shall appear to any number of reflecting persons 
either rational or intelligible. 

In pursuing our examination of the sacred name 
by which these sublime truths were summarily ex- 
pressed, we transiently noticed its shorter form Jah, 
(pronounced yah), which requires some further ex- 
planation. Some suppose it to be an abbreviation 
of the word Jehovah; but there is better ground 
for considering it an independent derivative of the 
verb to be, hdva(h) or hdya(h\ — a condensed 
form of its present tense, and signifying " He is." 
It may be understood, therefore, as corresponding 
to u I AM," while Jehovah corresponds to the 
fuller expression, "I AM THAT I AM." It is the 
assertion of the necessary, continuous, eternal, 
personal existence of God, to which, in the word 
Jehovah, are explicitly superadded His past eternity 
and unchangeableness. The notion of each of 
these two attributes is, however, as will easily be 
seen, implicitly contained in Jah, as in " I am." 
The name Jah first occurs in the triumphal song of 
Moses, (Exod. xv. 2.) It is afterwards frequently 
used, but only in poetical books or passages, or in 
the composition of proper names. In Ps. lxviii. 4, 



NAMES OF GOD. 95 

already quoted, (p. 84,) it is certainly mentioned with 
reference to its actual meaning. The words are — 
"Extol him ... by his name/rf/ or, as in the 
older version, " Praise him in his namey#///" but 
more exactly rendered, "Extol him whose name con- 
sists xAJah? or, " whose name is whatJaA is." The 
preposition " in" thus used, has the power of indi- 
cating the absolute nature or essence of that to which 
it is attached , as in Hos. xiii. 9, where it is prefixed 
to the word rendered " help," and gives the sense, 
u In me is that in which consists thy help;" i.e.. 
"In me is what is thy help." And so, in one of the 
two passages in which we find the words Jah Jehovah 
in juxtaposition, (Isa. xxvi. 4,) rendered in our ver- 
sion, " In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength, 
(the rock of ages,") the preposition /;/, prefixed to 
Jalu rather suggests as the meaning, "Jehovah is 
Jah, the rock of ages ; ; ' that is, " Jehovah is what is 
meant by Jah, the ever-living, eternal one, (and so, ) 
an everlasting refuge and defence.'" The other pas- 
sage, (Isa. xii. 2,) "Jah Jehovah is my strength and 
song," is a quotation from the song of Moses, 
(Exod. xv. 2,) "Jah is my strength and song." The 
addition of Jehovah by the prophet shews that his 
mind dwelt upon the significance of the term by 
which he spoke of God. 

The word Jehovah is found for the first time in 
Gen. ii. 4 ; and there in combination with Elohim; 



96 NAMES OF GOD. 

which usage prevails throughout the whole of the 
second and third chapters. And it is observable 
that the Divine Being is spoken of only by this 
compound name in those chapters, except in the 
dialogue between Eve and the serpent, in which 
the term used is Elohim alone. Afterwards, either 
Jehovah (Lord), or Elohim, is the word employed 
in the narrative ; Jehovah Elohim not occurring 
again, except in Noah's blessing of Shem, until 
much later in the book, and then twice only; at 
xxiv. 27, in the words of Eliezer, Abraham's ser- 
vant, and at xxviii. 13, in the words addressed by 
God to Jacob in his vision. In xv. 2, 8, indeed, 
we read " Lord God ;" but the words ought to be 
rendered Lord Jehovah, for they are, in Hebrew, 
Adonai Jehovah, not Adonai Elohim, as our version 
represents them to be. In subsequent books of 
Scripture the name Elohim is of frequent occur- 
rence. The fact that in the first portion of the 
Book of Genesis, comprised in chap. i. 22, and 
chap. ii. 1-3, and containing a complete account 
of the work of creation, the Creator is uniformly 
called Elohim alone, is thought by many critics to 
indicate that this portion was not written by the 
author of that which follows, and in which the 
name Jehovah Elohim is principally used. This 
orrinion is corroborated by the formal title with 
which the second portion commences: "These 



NAMES OF GOD. 97 

are the generations of the heavens and the earth/' 
&c, which certainly seems more appropriate to a 
separate and independent account of creation than 
to a continuation of one preceding. There is no- 
thing in such a view of these compositions which 
can in the slightest degree diminish their credit 
as the product of inspiration. Before the time of 
Moses, to whom the authorship of the Pentateuch 
as a whole is rightly ascribed, and upon Divine 
authority, there may have been various accounts of 
the creation of the world, and its early history, 
composed by inspired persons, from which he, 
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, might com- 
pile such a series of statements on the subject as 
it was the Divine will should form a permanent 
record. 

Another combination, of frequent occurrence, 
and repeatedly declared to be the appropriate 
name of the true God, is Jehovah Sabaoth, (pro- 
nounced in Hebrew, Tsevaoth,) which we render 
u Lord of Hosts. " Perhaps the ordinary concep- 
tion of the meaning of this divine title is, that it 
represents God as ordering in His providence, or, 
as in the case of Israel, by His special direction, 
the operations of armies and the events of war. 
Thus, it is rendered in the French version, Eelernel 
des armees, " The eternal (God) of armies ;" and it 
is probably this notion which originated the phrase 

G 



98 NAMES OF GOD, 

u God of battles," which is found in most modern 
European languages, and is doubtless received by 
many as a scriptural title of God, whereas no such 
phrase exists in Scripture. Its prevalence among 
writers of all kinds in our language, and possibly 
in others, may be accounted for by its adoption by 
Shakspeare in a celebrated passage, — the prayer of 
Henry V. before the battle of Agincourt : — 

" O God of battles, steel my soldiers' hearts!" 

There are certainly a few places in the Bible in 
which the name Jehovah Sabaoth appears to be used 
with reference to human wars. Thus, David said 
to Goliath, " I come to thee in the name of Jehovah 
Sabaoth, the God of the armies (not Sabaoth) of 
Israel," (i Sam. xvii. 45.) In Psalm xxiv. 10, the 
answer to the question, " Who is the king of 
glory?" is, " Jehovah Sabaoth." The previous an- 
swer, in verse 8, to which this corresponds, is 
"Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in 
battle." And in Isaiah xiii. 4, the prophet, de- 
scribing the gathering together of invading armies 
against Babylon, says, " Jehovah Sabaoth mus- 
tereth the host (Saba) of the battle." But in the 
great majority of passages in which this name 
occurs there is no allusion to war. It is not found 
once in the Pentateuch, nor in the books of Joshua 
and Judges, which record so many wars under- 



NAMES OF GOD. 99 

taken under Divine guidance. And the earliest 
mention of it is in 1 Sam. i. 3, in a narrative of 
domestic life, and a prayer offered by a woman. 
If we examine the use of the word, {Saba Tsava,) 
we find that it has by no means exclusively, though 
it has most frequently, a military sense. It is first 
employed to designate the heavenly bodies in 
Gen. ii. 1 : " Thus the heavens and the earth were 
formed and all the host of them." Afterwards, it 
denotes frequently the congregation of the Israel- 
itish people, not regarded as an army— though it is 
often rendered by that word in our version — but as 
composed of various distinct assemblages. From 
this use of it, as almost identical with " tribes," 
and observing that the people of Israel are called 
by God " mine armies," (Exod. vii. 4,) and spoken 
of as "the hosts of Jehovah," (Exod. xii. 41,) some 
consider the name Jehovah Sabaoth to signify Je- 
hovah the God of the congregation, or tribes, or 
families of Israel. It would thus be equivalent to 
the designation of Jehovah as " Head of His 
Church," or, in exact New Testament language, 
"Head over all things to His Church," (ecclesia, con- 
gregation, or assembly.) And, undeniably, in such 
a sense, it would possess remarkable appropriate- 
ness and significance in many important passages. 
But the most natural and satisfactory explanation 
of the title is found in the application of the word 



ioo NAMES OF GOD. 

host or hosts to the material or spiritual creations 
of the heavenly world ; that world which is repre- 
sented in the sacred writings as the peculiar sphere 
for the manifestation of the presence, power, and 
glory of God. The sun, moon, and stars are 
called in many places " the host of heaven." As 
has been already observed, the word " host," in its 
earliest use, is applied to them ; and in this char- 
acter they are spoken of as God's work, and the 
subjects of His dominion. " By the word of Je- 
hovah were the heavens made, and all the host of 
them by the breath of his mouth," (Ps. xxxiii. 6.) 
" Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath 
created these things, that bringe'th out their host by 
number : he calleth them all by names," (Isa. xl. 
26.) " I, (even) my hands, have stretched out the 
heavens, and all their host have I commanded," 
(Isa. xlv. 12.) Again, the angels, or inhabitants of 
the higher world, are repeatedly described as " the 
host of heaven," or " God's host." Thus Micaiah, 
in relating his vision, says, " I saw Jehovah sitting 
on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing 
by him, on his right hand and on his left," (1 Kings 
xxii. 19.) And in the Psalms we read, " Bless ye 
Jehovah, all (ye) his hosts; (ye) ministers of his, that 
do his pleasure," (Ps. ciii. 21.) " Praise ye him, all his 
angels ; praise ye him, all his hosts," (Ps cxlviii. 2.) 
Nehemiah combines both these meanings of the 



NAMES OF GOD. 101 

term "host," in a passage before cited, as declaring 
the nature of God by His name Jehovah , — a con- 
nection which throws much light on the titular use 
of the word Sabaoth: "Thou, (even) thou, (art) Je- 
hovah alone ; thou hast made heaven, the heaven 
of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all 
things that are therein ; . . . and the host of heaven 
worshippeth thee" (Neh. ix. 6.) And in places where 
the word itself does not occur, we find what is 
denoted by it, that is, assemblages of heavenly 
beings, represented as an accessory to the Divine 
glory. " Jehovah came from Sinai ... he came with 
ten thousands of saints," (Deut. xxxiii. 2.) "The 
chariots of God (are) twenty thousand, (even) thou- 
sands of angels ; Jehovah (is) among them (as in) 
Sinai, in the holy place," (Ps. lxviii. 17.) "Jeho- 
vah my God shall come, (and) all the saints with 
thee," (Zech. xiv. 5.) " Thousand thousands minis- 
tered unto him," (Dan. vii. 10.) "Behold the 
Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints," 
(Jude 14.) "When the Son of man shall come 
in his glory (glory of his Father, Matt. xvi. 27,) 
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he 
sit upon the throne of his glory," (Matt. xxv. 31.) 
" The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven 
with his mighty angels," (2 Tim. i. 7.) Connect- 
ing such representations of vast assemblages of 
celestial beings, as constituting the exhibition of 



102 NAMES OF GOD. 

the state and majesty of Jehovah, with the fact that 
He is called by the name Jehovah (God) of hosts, 
or assemblages, the inference is almost inevitable 
that by the word hosts in the name is meant such 
beings or powers. And this sense of the word 
is consistent and correlative with that previously 
ascertained as denoting the material "powers of 
heaven -" for these are, as we have seen, associated 
with spiritual intelligences in the expression " host 
of heaven. " So, too, in the language of the Book 
of Job, "When the morning stars sang together, 
and all the sons of God shouted for joy ;" and so 
in the general instinctive feeling and belief of man- 
kind. In fact, some who have most deeply studied 
the subject consider the name Jehovah Sabaoth, in 
its usage by the prophets and later writers, as pos- 
sessing the same character which we have ascribed 
to the name Jehovah alone, — that of a protest and 
safeguard against idolatry, the assertion of a true 
creed against a wide-spread system of misbelief. 
The worship of the heavenly bodies, regarded as 
powers of nature, or actual intelligences, prevailed 
extensively in the East, and is often alluded to in 
the Bible. The name Jehovah Sabaoth, Jehovah 
(the God) of hosts, symbolized, in opposition to 
this system of belief and worship, the one, eternal, 
self-existent Iking, who created, and has under His 
control, all powers that be, throughout the uni- 



NAMES OF GOD. 103 

verse. It represented Him as " Lord of all power 
and might/'' material or spiritual, Lord of heaven 
and earth, sole God and ruler of the world. And 
this we may safely accept as the true and full 
meaning of the title. It is worthy of notice, in 
corroboration of our conclusion, that it certainly 
was thus understood by the authors of the old 
Greek version of the Septuagint, so often referred 
to, who, when they do not adopt the very word 
Sabaoth, render the name Jehovah Sabaoth either 
" the Lord of powers,*' or " the Lord all-possessing, 
all-controlling." 

A remarkable statement is made in the sacred 
records concerning the early history and use of 
the name Jehovah^ which has occasioned great 
diversity of opinion among the expositors and 
critics who have attempted its explanation. After 
the vision in the desert, God renewed to Moses 
in Egypt the solemn declaration of His name and 
promise, and on that occasion spoke thus : — " I 
(am) Jehovah. And I appeared unto Abraham, 
unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by (the name of) God 
Almighty; but by my name Jehovah was I not 
known to them," (Exod. vi. 3.) Some understand 
these words literally, and suppose that although the 
historian has frequently used the word Jehovah as 
a name of God in the Book of Genesis, writing 
after the name was revealed, the patriarchs them- 



104 NAMES OF GOD. 

selves, and all who lived before the time of Moses, 
were ignorant of the name. But such an opinion 
can hardly be maintained consistently with the fact 
that the patriarchs are represented as using this 
name in speaking of God, and to God. It is still 
more difficult to reconcile with the statement that, 
on one remarkable occasion, iVbraham assigned to 
a certain place a name of which the word Jehovah 
formed a part, and which name (Jehovah -Jireh) 
the narrator testifies that the place retained to his 
own day. Another explanation, variously modified 
among the many commentators who have adopted 
it, is, that Jehovah is here to be understood rela- 
tively to the people of Israel, and God's promises 
to them, now about to be fulfilled, to which 
existence is now given by actual performance ; in 
which performance also God would manifest Him- 
self in the constancy and truth of His nature, ex- 
pressed by the name " I am that I am/' or " I 
will be what I will be." But this interpretation is 
very unsatisfactory. By it, as Bishop Warburton 
remarks, " the Almighty is made to tell the 
Israelites that He was not known to their fore- 
fathers as the God who had redeemed their pos- 
terity out of Egypt, before they had any posterity 
to redeem." Besides, God had remarkably mani- 
fested Himself to the patriarchs, and especially to 
Abraham in a signal instance, the birth of Isaac, 



NAMES OF GOD. 105 

as a God fulfilling His promises. The explanation 
of Bishop Warburton himself is, however, as little 
entitled to our acceptance ; nor is it indeed very 
intelligible. He says, " The assertion is not that 
the word 'Jehovah' was not used in the patriarchal 
language, but that the name c Jehovah,' as a title of 
honour, (whereby a new idea was affixed to an old 
word,) was unknown to them," ("Divine Legation," 
b. iv. sec. 6.) It is not easy to imagine in what 
sense the word was used by the patriarchs, if not, 
at least as a title of honour. 

Possibly an approach to the solution of the diffi- 
culty is to be found in the peculiar usage of the term 
"name." It has been shown in our introductory 
remarks that this term is employed, especially in 
reference to God, to denote nature, character, and 
attributes. It stands in fact for the revelation which 
He has, at any time, made of Himself, and His 
holy will, for the purpose of directing men's belief, 
worship, and conduct. ^Vhen, therefore, God says, 
" I appeared unto your fathers as God Almighty," 
("by the name of" is not in the Hebrew,) "but by 
my name Jehovah was I not known to them," it may 
be meant that, although God manifested Himself 
to the patriarchs by direct personal communication, 
He had not given to them an express and formal 
revelation of Himself, — such a declaration of His 
physical, moral, and spiritual attributes, in language, 



106 NAMES OF GOD. 

and in a system of religious belief and practice, as 
that now about to be delivered to Israel through 
Moses — the revelation, of which the word Jehovah 
was to be a distinctive symbol, as involving all 
those sublime truths of which thenceforward Israel 
was to be the " witness and keeper." " The mean- 
ing is," says Professor Havernich in his " Introduc- 
tion to the Pentateuch," (sec. 9,) " that God re- 
vealed Himself to the patriarchs as El Shaddai, 
and as such entered into a covenant-relation with 
them ; but ' as to my name Jehovah, by that I 
was not known to them ;' i.e., the signification of 
that name was by no means known to them in the 
way that it is known, now that it has been dis- 
closed. And, indeed, that revelation was far from 
being a theoretical one ; it went hand in hand with 
the practical revelation of the new glorification of 
God in His people, (comp. Hosea xiii. 4.) Not 
until that fact had an historical existence could it 
clearly appear what that name contained in it ; not 
till then could its proper complete sense be appre- 
hended. From this, then, it follows that even 
here it is by no means denied that the name was 
in use in the time of the patriarchs \ but this is 
conceded in a limited sense, inasmuch as the full 
compass of its meaning could not be presented 

r than the Mosaic period." 

igular superstitions have prevailed among the 



NAMES OF GOD. 107 

Jews in connection with the name Jehovah from 
very ancient times. This sacred word, the Tetra- 
grammaton, as it is called, or " four-lettered name/"'' 
is never pronounced by the ordinary reader, or 
the reader of the law in the Jewish synagogue. 
Whenever it occurs by itself, the word Adonai is 
substituted for it, or Elohim, if Adonai is found 
with it in the text. It is their tradition that, after 
the captivity, the name was pronounced only once 
a year, by the high priest alone, in the temple, 
on the day of atonement ; but that after the de- 
struction of the temple the name was never pro- 
nounced at all. In their theological writings, the 
word, if it be necessary to refer to it, is indicated 
by a symbolical letter, but usually is represented 
by the phrase, "The Holy One, blessed be He." 
And, in allusion to it, God is frequently spoken of 
as " The name." The right pronunciation of the 
word is said to be lost, or only discoverable by 
intense study, and the practice of deeds of right- 
eousness and mortification. Indeed, only a few 
persons are supposed to have ever attained to it. 
In the collection of Rabbinical traditions, called 
the Talmud, and in the writings of its expositors, 
wonderful effects are ascribed to the use of the 
name, rightly written or pronounced. Moses, we 
are told, wrought his miracles by virtue of the 
name Jehovah , engraved on his rod. Solomon, 



io8 NAMES OF GOD. 

who has the reputation among Jewish traditionists, 
as among the Mohammedans, of being a great 
master of magic, did all his enchantments by- 
means of the pronunciation of the sacred name. 
Rashi, the most eminent commentator on the 
Talmud, tells various strange and ridiculous stories 
of miracles performed by holy men who had ac- 
quired the same cabbalistic knowledge. For 
example, " Rabba/' he says, " created a man, and 
sent him to Rabbi Zira. He spoke with him, but 
when the other did not answer him, he said, Thou 
art from the magicians \ return to thy dust ! 
Rabba created the man by means of the book of 
Jetzirah, for it taught him the combination of the 
letters of the name of God." And miraculous, or 
rather magical, efficacy is, in the Talmud, repeat- 
edly ascribed to the Divine name, even as ordi- 
narily written. Thus Rabbah says, "They that 
go down to the sea have told me that, when a 
wave is going to overwhelm a ship, sparks of white 
light are seen on its head. But if one strike it 
with a staff on which are graved the words, * I am 
that I am, Jah, Lord of Hosts, Amen, Amen, 
Selah,' it subsides."'* It is probable that a belief 
in the possibility of the possession of some such 
magical secret giving power to work miracles is 
implied in the words addressed by the Sanhedrim 

* "The Old Paths," by Dr M'Caul. Part iii. Xos. 25, 26. 



NAMES OF GOD. 109 

to the apostles Peter and John, on occasion of 
their healing the lame man at the gate of the 
temple : — " By what power, or by what name, have 
ye done this ? " And certainly the Jewish exor- 
cists at Ephesus used the name of Jesus as a charm, 
when they took upon them to " call over them 
which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, 
saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preach- 
eth." Puerile as we must esteem the Jewish prac- 
tice, and profane as undoubtedly are the Talmud- 
ical legends in reference to the Divine name, due 
consideration may elicit from both some wholesome 
instruction not unnecessary in our own times. 
They have arisen from the perversion or misappre- 
hension of great truths, and of important principles 
of faith and duty. But many among us seem to 
have abandoned these truths and principles alto- 
gether. We may smile at the superstition which 
suppresses the mention of the name of God ; but 
does not the very superstition forcibly rebuke those 
who blaspheme that holy name, in oaths and 
curses, by irreverent jesting, and by introducing it 
lightly into common discourse \ The Jew who will 
not pronounce the wot&Jehovah, from fear of offend- 
ing or disparaging the Divine majesty, will rise up in 
the judgment and condemn the Christian by whose 
lips the sacred names, God, and Lord, and Christ, 
are constantly dishonoured, in his passion, his sur- 



no NAMES OF GOD. 

prise, and his mirth. And the scrupulousness of 
the synagogue, extravagant though it be in regard 
to the utterance of the holiest words, may remind 
some Christian worshippers of the existence of a 
principle in religion which is opposed to presump- 
tuous familiarity in addressing the Almighty Lord, 
and Omniscient Judge. Again, the Jews have mis- 
taken the meaning of those declarations of holy 
Scripture which ascribe a wondrous efficacy to the 
name of Jehovah, by attributing to the sound and 
the form of a word that power which emanates 
wholly from the Divine will, and is granted to faith 
alone. But the Christian is no less excusable who 
acknowledges his God and Saviour by name only ; 
who has been baptized in the name of the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and who worships 
in that name, but who has never sought nor ex- 
perienced the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, or 
the love of God, or the fellowship of the Holy 
Spirit. Nor is their error essentially different from 
that of the Talmudists, concerning the Divine 
name, who teach and believe that its mere pro- 
nunciation, accompanying the outward act of bap- 
tism, is, in all cases, followed by an inward and 
spiritual change, the renewal of the soul after the 
image of the Creator. For this is a doctrine 
which assigns to the name of the triune God, as 
used in the ordinance, a wonder-working virtue 



NAMES OF GOD. in 

independent of faith and prayer, and converts a 
sacrament into a charm. Before we condemn the 
Jew for an unworthy conception of the use and 
efficacy of the name of God, let us ask ourselves 
how we too employ it? in what sense we under- 
stand it? with what feelings we regard it? Cer- 
tainly there can be no more important inquiry 
than that which Jewish errors on this subject 
suggest to the minds of Christians : — Whether the 
holy name by which we are called is to us a sound 
and nothing more ; whether our acknowledgment 
of God under that name is a form or a reality; 
whether the trust which we place in the Divine 
name is ignorant and superstitious, or grounded 
upon the truths which it expresses, the revelations 
which it symbolizes, of the nature, the character, 
the will, and the promises of our God 

In a passage already referred to, (Exod. vi. 3,) 
God speaks of Himself as having " appeared unto 
Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob as God 
Almighty." The first mention of this name is in 
Gen. xvii. 1., where it is stated that, on an espe- 
cially solemn occasion, when Jehovah appeared to 
Abram, He opened His communication with the 
patriarch by this declaration, " I am the Almighty 
God." These words are afterwards reported as 
similarly uttered by God in speaking of Himself 
when He appeared unto Jacob, and blessed him, 



112 NAMES OF GOD. 

(Gen. xxxv. 9-11;) and the name is recorded to 
have been used by Isaac once and by Jacob twice. 
The words of the name are in Hebrew El-Shaddai, 
and they occur in combination in no other places 
than these in the whole of the Old Testament — 
a fact which is singularly in accordance with the 
statement that it was peculiarly " as God Al- 
mighty" that Jehovah had "appeared unto Abra- 
ham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob." The word 
Shaddai, however, which we render "Almighty," 
is elsewhere employed as the name of God ; and 
very frequently in the Book of Job. Much differ- 
ence of opinion prevails as to its exact meaning. 
Some have supposed it a compound of Sha or She, 
an abbreviated form of the relative pronoun asher, 
"who, or which," and dai, " sufficient; " so as to give 
it the sense of " He who is sufficient," that is, the 
"All-sufficient, self-subsisting, independent Being," 
— the Being in whom all fulness dwells, and out 
of whose fulness we all receive ail things. But 
this derivation finds few or no supporters among 
modern students of the Hebrew language and ety- 
mology. 

Others, observing that shad is the word for 

" breast," originating in a Chaldee word, (sheda,) 

which signifies to pour out copiously, (but which, 

like the cognate English " shed," has the remoter 

aing, " to divide,") understand by Shaddai the 



NAMES OF GOD. 113 

"all-sustaining," the all-bountiful, the Being who 
supplies sustenance and benefits to all. And they 
seek a corroboration of this opinion in the fact 
that the Egyptian deity, Isis, and her Greek re- 
presentative, Ceres, were distinguished by epithets 
similarly derived, intimating that they were per- 
sonifications of the prolific and alimentary powers 
of nature. Again, the word Shedim is found in 
application to heathen deities, (Deut. xxxii. 17; 
Ps. cvi. 37.) It is undoubtedly of the same 
origin with Shad, and Shaddai, and has the sense 
of "lords" or "governors," from the primitive 
notion " divide," which we find associated with 
that of magisterial authority in Luke xii. 14, "Who 
made me a judge or divider over you ] " In our 
version, Shedim is rendered "devils," from the 
Greek translation, which gives for it dcemons. But 
the word dcemon is also, by the best etymologists, 
derived from a verb which signifies " divide," (dis- 
tribute destinies.) The verb Shadad, "to treat 
with violence," " destroy," is in affinity with these 
words ; and is by many supposed to be the word 
from which Shaddai is directly formed, and so gets 
the signification of "the powerful One," "the Al- 
mighty." A corresponding Arabic word, Shedid, 
similarly derived, means "strong," "vehement." 
And we may observe that, in the Greek and Latin 
languages, words {Ma Gr., vis Latin) which express 

H 



H4 NAMES OF GOD. 

violence, or force imperiously exerted, have also, 
quite as commonly, the general sense of "might'* 
or " strength.'" So, in English, the word "force/' 
which as a verb always has the notion of violence, 
as a noun often only means "power." From the 
manner, however, in which the name Shaddai is 
used in two remarkable passages in close juxta- 
position with the word Shad, " destruction," it is 
almost certain that it was considered as connected 
in signification with that word. In Isaiah xiii. 6 
we read, " The day of Jehovah is at hand ; it shall 
come as a destruction from the Almighty" — in He- 
brew, keshod misshaddai. Precisely the same words 
occur in Joel i. 15 ; and this circumstance renders 
it probable that the expression was in ordinary use. 
Its alliterative character also favours such a sup- 
position, and is in accordance with a very common 
usage of the Hebrew poetical writers, by which 
words of similar sound and meaning are placed 
together. But while the name might, in such a 
collocation, convey to the mind the idea of potency 
for destruction, its usual sense might be simple 
potency, the sense which best agrees with the 
sentiment of most of the passages in which it 
occurs. This name also, it is to be noticed, as 
well as Elohim and Adonai, has a plural termina- 
tion. Its plural form adds to the idea of power 
that of superlativeness or supremacy, and so 



NAMES OF GOD. 115 

justifies the most extensively approved rendering, 
" Almighty." 

The full meaning of the name Jehovah El-Shad- 
dai cannot be better expressed than in the well- 
known paraphrase of a verse of the Hundredth 
Psalm, — 

" Know that the Lord is God alone; 
He can create, and He destroy." 

It is an interesting subject of inquiry, whether 
any trace of the Hebrew proper name for God can 
be found in other ancient languages, especially 
those of Greece and Rome. There is an evident 
similarity between Jims, an early form of the name 
of the supreme God worshipped by the Romans 
as Jupiter, and the word Jehovah or Jahve; but 
this is hardly sufficient to determine the derivation; 
and eminent modern etymologists prefer to con- 
nect Jovis with the Greek form Dios, which might 
easily become Divos, Jivos, Jovis, by changes of 
which many like examples may be given. Macro- 
bius, a writer of the fourth century of our era, 
records a line from an old oracle which bids the 
inquirer consider Iao the supreme God. Iao cer- 
tainly bears a near resemblance to Jah, and is a 
possible mode of pronouncing the Tetragrammaton, 
or " four-lettered name," called by us Jehovah. 
If it existed as a name of God in the early time to 
which it is assigned, its identity with these Hebrew 



n6 NAMES OF GOD. 

words can scarcely be doubted. But the authen- 
ticity of Macrobius's citation is very questionable. 

The etymology of Divine names, and especially 
of the names of the supreme God, or of the general 
term for Deity, occupied the attention of two of 
the profoundest thinkers and philosophers among 
the heathen writers of classical antiquity. Cicero, 
in his treatise " On the Nature of the Gods," has 
given the derivations of various names of divini- 
ties worshipped by the Romans, several of which 
are very fanciful, and show but little acquaintance 
with the true principles of verbal criticism or ety- 
mology. Jupiter he analyses into " Juvans pater" 
that is, u the helping father," supposing that the 
syllable iuv, which is the root form of juvans, 
" helping," is indicated in the words Jov-is, Jov-i, 
&c, the substitutes in use for Jupiier-is Jupiter-i, 
&c, which, in regular inflexion, would express the 
notions " of Jupiter," " to Jupiter," &c. He pro- 
ceeds to notice the epithets, " optimus, maximus," 
i.e., " best, greatest," by which the earlier Romans 
characterized this deity ; and says" that the former, 
which has the sense of " most beneficent," is 
placed first because " it is grander, and certainly 
more worthy of praise and honour, to confer bene- 
fits on all, than to possess mighty power." Some 
analogy may be observed between this double 
epithet of Jupiter and the two interpretations of 



NAMES OF GOD. 117 

the name Shaddai, — " all-bountiful," and " all- 
powerful," each of which is derivable from the root 
of the word, and either of which, it is conceivable, 
might present itself most prominently to the mind 
of the speaker, or hearer, according to the occasion 
on which the word was used. The dialogue of 
Plato called " Cratylus" is devoted to an inquiry 
into the origin of names, proper and common. 
It is difficult to discover in this performance the 
opinion of the author himself, whether on the 
subject generally, or on particular statements and 
propositions. Certainly, many of the derivations 
suggested are so extremely absurd and puerile, and 
display such complete ignorance of the structure 
of the Greek language, that we can hardly suppose 
them satisfactory to such a master of his native 
tongue as Plato. Besides, they are introduced, and 
treated, in a manner, and with allusions, which give 
the impression that they are intended as a bur- 
lesque upon certain etymological theories of a 
mystic character, in fact, a kind of Greek Cabbala, 
which professed, like the Jewish, to discover deep 
mysteries in words and names. But Socrates, the 
chief personage of the dialogue, is represented as 
establishing, by his usual method of investigation, 
the principle that the original and right use of a 
name is to define the nature and character of the 
object to which it is applied. And, although we 



u8 NAMES OF GOD. 

cannot be sure that he is to be understood as really 
expressing his own opinion when he gives an in- 
terpretation of the names of the supreme deity of 
the Greeks, it is observable that on occasion of so 
doing he carefully re-asserts this important prin- 
ciple. The names of the being whom the Romans 
called Jupiter, or Jove, is in Greek Zeus, with the 
case-variation Zenos, Zeni, Zena. He traces this 
w r ord to the verb Zen, which signifies "to live/ 7 
Another name is one before mentioned, which has 
the forms Di-os, Di-i, Di-a. This word contains, he 
says, the elements of the preposition////*, "through;" 
and the relative pronoun (h)os, (h)o7i, " who, " or 
" whom." Putting the two names together, he 
makes them equivalent to the expression, "Through 
whom is life evermore to all that live/' prefacing 
the remark, that " There is no being whom we can 
more rightly deem the cause of life to ourselves, 
and all other living creatures, than Him who is 
both ruler and sovereign of all." We are here for- 
cibly reminded of St Paul's declaration to the 
Athenians on the Areopagus, " In Him we live, and 
move, and have our being," — words which, from the 
connection in which we find them, followed as they 
arc by a direct citation of a Greek poet, to the same 
effect, and relating to the deity called Zeus, we may 
readily believe to be an allusion to a well-known 
sentiment] or doctrine, associated in the minds of 



NAMES OF GOD. 119 

his hearers with a name of God. In a subsequent 
passage of this same work the general term for 
Deity, Theos, is derived from a word the-ein, or 
them, which means " to run ;" and it is explained 
to have reference to the observed motion, or course, 
of the heavenly bodies, which in the earliest times 
were objects of worship. Another Greek writer, 
the historian Herodotus, has derived the word from 
a verb the root-form of which is the, and its mean- 
ing " place/' or " set f stating that the Pelasgi, a 
very ancient race, worshipped these deities under 
this name, and no other, as importing that they had 
placed, and set in their order, all things that are, 
assign all localities, and arrange and dispose all 
events. None of these derivations are tenable. 
The word Theos, or dens, (the Latin form,) is doubt- 
less the same as Zeus, and the Sanskrit deva, and is 
found, with slight variations, in most of the kindred 
languages. But its original signification is not dis- 
coverable. We learn, however, from these attempts 
to solve the problem of its etymology, how much 
importance was attached to the real and original 
meaning of a Divine name. It was a familiar notion, 
among at least the educated classes of Romans and 
Greeks, that great, primitive, and eternal truths 
might be latent in a traditional appellation of the 
Deity; that, in fact, the name of God might be, as 
it was to the Hebrews, the summary of a creed. 



120 NAMES OF GOD. 

But the Hebrews possessed an advantage, and 
we possess it through them, in respect to the name 
of the greatest and best of Beings, which was not 
enjoyed by any other nation in the days of Plato 
and Cicero. It was an advantage the value of 
which Plato fully appreciated, and for which he 
deeply longed, as may be understood from the 
following passage of the "Cratylus," in which he is 
clearly speaking, under the name of Socrates, his 
own real sentiments, in all seriousness and rever- 
ence. A personage of the dialogue asks " whether 
it is practicable, by the method of derivation, to 
pursue an inquiry, with any hope of success, into 
the correct principle of the imposition of Divine 
names." To which Socrates replies, "that sensible 
men will adopt one method as the best possible in 
considering this subject, and that is, to acknow- 
ledge that we know nothing about the gods, — no- 
thing, either about themselves, or the names by 
which, whatever they may be, they designate them- 
selves ; it being a certain fact that the names by 
which they call themselves are their true names. 
There is, however/' he continues, "a second 
method of attaining correctness, which it is our 
regular custom to employ in our prayers when we 
say that, by whatever names, and whencesoever de- 
rived, it is their pleasure to be called, by these we 
also call them, assuming no knowledge of them 



NAMES OF GOD, 121 

beyond this."* He then proceeds to state that 
the names of deities, actually in use, must only 
be understood to express the notions which men 
have formed concerning them. Such sentiments 
of the heathen mind may help us to comprehend 
the solemn significance attached to the ineffable 
name Jehovah, and the deep sense of an inestimable 
privilege in the possession of it, which certainly per- 
vades all the writings of the Old Testament, and is 
especially to be noticed in the Pentateuch. It was 
recognized as God's own name, known to be really 

* Examples of this ritual observance are found in various 
Greek and Latin authors. Thus, in the "Agamemnon," a 
tragedy by ^Eschylus, an invocation of Jupiter, or Zeus, 
occurs in these terms: — "Zeus, whosoever he be, if it be 
pleasing to him to be called by this name, by this do I now 
address him." Servius, a grammarian, records a prayer to 
Jupiter, commencing thus, — "Jupiter, best and greatest, or 
by whatever other name thou wouldst have thyself called." 
So Horace, in a hymn to Diana, after addressing her by one 
name, says, — " Whether thou preferrest to be called Lucina 
or Genitalis ;" and elsewhere he thus invokes another 
deity, — " Father of the morning, or Janus, as perhaps with 
more satisfaction thou hearest thyself called." Milton has 
imitated this practice in his address to light : — 

"Hail, holy light! offspring of Heaven, first-born, 
Or of the eternal co-eternal beam. 
May I express thee unblamed? since God is light. 

Or hea-Sst thou rather, pure ethereal stream, 
Whose fountain who shall tell ?" 

— Paradise Lost, book hi. 



122 NAMES OF GOD, 

His, because revealed by Himself, and belonging 
to Him alone, in no possible sense transferable to 
another, or capable of designating any second 
being. It expressed not a notion of the Divine 
nature formed by man from reason or instinct, but 
the highest truth of the Divine nature as an imme- 
diate revelation from God. Upon the testimony of 
Plato, one of the wisest of Pagans, this fact, wanting 
in Pagan religions, and not claimed by them, could 
only belong to a religion truly divine, given by God 
himself. Its absence from these religions was a 
tacit disavowal of their pretensions to Divine origin. 
Its presence in the Jewish was a natural and neces- 
sary element of a religion professing to come from 
God, and a perpetual, transcendental self-assertion 
of its character as a Revelation. 

And the grand idea of the knowledge of the real 
name of God, the name which essentially belongs 
to Him, the name by which it is His pleasure to 
be called, as the fundamental principle of true 
religion, is fully and conspicuously developed in 
the Gospel dispensation. The object of faith, and 
hope, and love, under that dispensation, was an- 
nounced in prophecy by the declaration of His 
"name." "His name shall be called Wonderful, 
Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Father of Eter- 
nity, The Prince of Peace.'' He had, immediately 
before His manifestation, a special name given 



NAMES OF GOD. 123 

Him by Divine command, by which He should for 
ever be called, which should indicate His charac- 
ter in relation to man, and embody the substance 
and the design of the revelation made of God in 
Him. "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he 
shall save his people from their sins/*' This name, 
then, is not ascribed by us to Him whom we wor- 
ship, and in whom we trust for salvation, from our 
own conception of what God is in Him, or from 
our desires and hopes directed towards Him \ it is 
not our invention nor our discovery ; it is God's 
disclosure of His infinite grace and love to our 
souls j it is the announcement and presentation of 
Himself to each man personally as his Saviour. 
In using this name when we approach the throne 
of God in prayer, we are not only free from all 
fear of giving offence, and from uncertainty as to 
whether it will be acceptable to Him, but we have 
the distinct assurance that, in thus coming to God, 
our persons and our prayers will meet with accept- 
ance and favour. Nor may we dispense with it, 
or employ any beside it, or together with it. 
" There is salvation in no other ; for there is no 
other name under heaven, given among men, by 
which we must be saved."' And let us ever re- 
member the all-important truth that this name is 
not only a name Divinely given, but a Divine 
name ; not only the name by which, as that of a 



124 NAMES OF GOD. 

Mediator, we worship God, but the name under 
which, as that of God himself, we worship Him. 
" God hath highly exalted him, and given him a 
name which is above every name : that in the name 
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in 
heaven, and things in earth, and things under the 
earth \ and that every tongue should confess that 
Jesus Christ is Lord, (Jehovah,) to the glory of 
God the Father," (Phil. ii. 9-1 1 ; Isa. xlv. 23.) 




NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH THE 
NAME OF GOD— (El.) 

PROCEEDING now to the examination of 
the ordinary proper names of persons in 
use among the Israelitish nation, we 
find that the name of God enters very freely into 
their composition. The reader of the Bible, on 
referring to any of the lists of names which abound 
in the historical books, or calling to mind the 
names of any number of the principal personages 
of sacred history, will observe that, in a large pro- 
portion of these, the first or last syllable is one or 
the other of the shorter forms of the Divine name. 
El, at the beginning, as Elkanah, or at the end, 
as Ishmael, is of very frequent occurrence. Jah 
is found perhaps still often er, although it is not so 
apparent in our mode of representing the Hebrew 
words. For not only the words which end in Jah, 
as Ahijah, Urijah, but most of those which begin 



126 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

with Jeli, as Jehoshaphat, and end with iah, as 
Isaiah, Hezekiah, have really this name fully ex- 
pressed in Hebrew, as a syllable in their compo- 
sition. At the same time, it must be remem- 
bered that these combinations of English letters, 
though usually, do not invariably indicate the Divine 
name. El is not God in Eli, or in Abel, or Rachel. 
Nor is Jah the name Jah or Jehovah in Jahleel, 
Jahaziah, nor Jeh in Jehiel and Jehu, nor iah in 
Beriah and Aphiah. A reader must be conversant 
with the Hebrew language, and in most cases must 
refer to the Hebrew text, in order to ascertain 
whether such syllables represent the words which 
in Hebrew express God and Jehovah. It is also 
to be observed that, of the many proper names 
which terminate in the letter yod, or i, some con- 
tain under that letter the word Jah, in a fragment- 
ary or mutilated form, these names having origi- 
nally, it is probable, ended in iah. Examples of 
this formation are Ittai, Nahari, or Naharai, Hil- 
kai ; which latter word is doubtless the same in 
meaning as Hilkiah, in which the sacred syllable 
is plainly expressed. The ending i is, however, 
most frequently either the pronoun " my," or has 
a denominative sense, as when equivalent to tie, 
(see note, p. 31,) which may be noted in Levi, or 
is merely added for the sake of emphasis, or to 
improve the sound, or increase the importance 



THE NA ME OF GOD. 127 

of the word, as in Eli, (Heli, exalted.) the name of 
the High Priest. 

All proper names had, as has been previously 
shown, in their original invention and imposition, 
a definite and appropriate significance. They are 
common terms, or the derivatives or compounds 
of common terms : and, in virtue of their meaning 
as such, were, in the first instance, selected to 
designate individuals. The range of possible cir- 
cumstances which might suggest a word or combi- 
nation of words, as the name of a particular per- 
son, is unlimited. Hence, without external evi- 
dence, it is seldom practicable to satisfy ourselves 
as to the nature of the applicability of the name 
to the individual by whom it was borne. But, in 
most cases in which the etymology of the name is 
ascertainable, we may discover the sentiment em- 
bodied in the word or words composing it — some 
notion capable of being stated as a proposition 
which was in the thoughts of him or them who gave 
the name. In the case of names compounded 
with the name of God, this sentiment is neces- 
sarily of a religious character. Some reference is 
made in -them to the attributes and character, or 
the acts and dealings of God, or to the relations 
between Him and man. We may, therefore, form 
from them some definite ideas of the views and 
feelings of those in whose minds they originated, 



128 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

with regard to the object of their worship. In so 
doing we shall be greatly assisted by the revelation 
of God which they were known to possess. And 
again, these expressions of sentiment may also be 
expected to illustrate their apprehension of that 
revelation. 

Composite names, in Hebrew, which are almost 
limited to proper names, are usually made up 
either of two names, or of a noun and a verb. 
In a few instances, they consist of a particle 
(usually an adverb) and a noun, or even of three 
words, — a pronoun, a particle, and a noun. When 
the word El or Jah forms part of a name, it is, of 
course, the noun, or one of the nouns composing 
it. When the other part is a verb, then some ac- 
tion is expressly ascribed to God, or predicated 
with respect to Him, and thus the name is a com- 
plete sentence. As for example, Elnathan, " God 
has given ;" Ishmael, " God hears ;" Jehoshaphat, 
" Jehovah judges ;" Igdaliah, " Jehovah be mag- 
nified." When El or Jah is coupled with a 
noun, some character of God or relation in 
which He stands to men is stated, — as Elime- 
lech, "God (is) king;" Elizur, " God (is a) 
rock;" Uzziel, "strength of God," or "God (is) 
my strength;" Jehoadclan, "Jehovah (is her) 
ornament;" Maaziah, "consolation of Jeho- 
vah," or " Jehovah (is) consolation." It will be 



THE NAME OF GOD. 1 29 

noticed that compounds of this latter class, as well 
as the former, may be of the nature of proposi- 
tions, but for want of a verb have not the full force 
of a proposition in Hebrew, and cannot be made 
intelligible in that character in English without the 
introduction of the implied " is," and occasionally 
of a pronoun. Otherwise, El, or /ah, especially 
when forming the last syllable, is employed attri- 
butively ; that is, the noun to which it is annexed 
denotes something possessed or caused by God, 
or dependent upon or related to Him. Examples 
of this use are found in the first sense above given 
of the words Uzziel, Maaziah, and in such names 
as Maaseiah, u work of Jehovah ; " Ammiel, 
" people of God; " Addiel, "servant of God." 

It would enlarge the present work beyond con- 
venient limits, and would perhaps be rather tedious 
than profitable, if we were to take into considera- 
tion all the names in the Bible which are com- 
pounded with a name of God; we must neces- 
sarily restrict ourselves to those which are most 
prominent, or which offer something more than 
ordinarily interesting or remarkable in their sig- 
nification. 

Proper names compounded with El occur very 
early in the sacred record. It is somewhat singu- 
lar that the first is found among the descendants 
of Cain. His great-grandson was named Menu- 



jael. The word Mehujael means " stricken, or 

smitten, of God." This etymology immediately 
suggests a reference to the punishment of Cain, 
and to his complaint under it. We are not en- 
titled, however, to conclude from it that one of the 
offspring of Cain recognized, in humiliation, the 
infliction of the Divine curse upon his ancestor • 
or regarded any calamity which might happen in 
his generation or family as the effect of the curse. 
But there is in the word a record of sorrow, and 
of sorrow considered as a stroke from the hand 
of God. The feeling which prompted the imposi- 
tion of the name could hardly have been a bad 
one. If not an acknowledgment, it was at least a 
complaint, and that couched in terms very closely 
resembling the language with which undoubted 
servants of God lamented over their troubles. In 
Isaiah we read, " The Lord hath stretched forth 
his hand against his people, and hath smitten 
them/' (v. 25 ;) and in Jeremiah, " Why hast thou 
smitten us, and there is no healing for us?" (xiv. 
19;) and in the Psalms, "They persecute him 
whom thou hast smitten ; and they talk to the 
grief of those whom thou hast wounded/' (lxix. 26.) 
We may reasonably accept the name Mehujael as 
an indication that they who adopted it, probably 
for a first-born son, were in a better state of mind 
than Israel in after times, when it was said of them 



THE NAME OF GOD. 1 3 1 

by Isaiah, " The people tumeth not to Him that 
smiteth them/' Such a name certainly looks like 
an expression of a desire on the part of the afflict- 
ed to turn to God as the Author of their affliction. 
It is the language of those who " accept of the 
punishment of their iniquity." This charitable 
supposition respecting some even of the house of 
Cain is strengthened by the fact that the next 
recorded name, Methusael. which was given to 
the son of Mehujael, though of doubtful import, 
is yet by the best authorities considered as con- 
taining the name of God. It is of the same form 
as Mishael, "Who (is) what God (is)?" and may 
be rendered, " a man who is of God, or belonging 
to God : " and may reasonably be understood of 
the dedication of the person who bore it to God 
when a child, or of his character as a man. An- 
other probable derivation from the verb shael. "to 
ask," gives the signification, " he asked a man," or 
"the man whom he asked. " ; But even this implies 
a prayer to God, and assimilates the name to 
others, such as Ishmael, Samuel, invented by pious 
parents who had made the gift of children a sub- 
ject of prayer. 

The Divine name is also found in the composi- 
tion of a proper name among the descendants of 
Seth, and in the same generation as among those 
of Cain. But Mahalaleel, the great-grandson of 



132 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

Seth, must have been considerably the junior of 
Mehujael, the great-grandson of Cain, as Seth was 
doubtless born after the death of Abel, and would 
himself be contemporary with the offspring of Cain; 
so that each of his descendants would be, in point 
of age, a generation behind the corresponding de- 
scendant of his brother. The word Mahalaleel 
signifies " praise of God," as will be readily under- 
stood by comparing a portion of it, halal, with the 
well-known word hallel-n-jah, " praise ye Jehovah." 
The religious sentiment of the name is undeniable ; 
and it is remarkable that its religious sentiment is of 
a very different character from that traceable in the 
word Mehujael. It is a term expressive, not of lamen- 
tation and humiliation, but of cheerful thankfulness 
and joy. It was probably a memorial of blessings 
received or perpetuated, and an acknowledgment 
of service due to God on account of them, an 
offering of a " sacrifice of praise unto Him con- 
tinually, even the fruit of the lips making confes- 
sion to His name." Or it may have some reference 
to the practice of open and public worship of God, 
which was instituted, according to the most natural 
interpretation of Gen. iv. 26, in the time of this 
patriarch's grandfather, Enos. The name is found 
again at Neh. xi. 4, as belonging to a descendant 
of Pharez, the son of Judah ; and it has an equi- 
valent in the name Jehalaleel, "he shall praise 



THE NAME OF GOD. 133 

God/' ascribed to another descendant of Judah in 
1 Chron. iv. 16, and to a Levite of the family of 
Merari in 2 Chron. xxix. 1 2. 

We are fully justified in seeking a definite and 
appropriate meaning for the names of these ante- 
diluvian patriarchs, by the fact that explanations 
of the names of several — Cain, Seth, and Noah — are 
given in the sacred record itself, with the reasons 
for their imposition. But the question naturally 
arises, In what language were these names given % 
If in that in which they are now found, and by 
means of which their meaning is explained or ex- 
plicable, then we must conclude that Hebrew was 
the original language of the human race, and the 
parent language from which all dialects now spoken 
throughout the world are derived. This is, indeed, 
an opinion which has been held by many among 
the earlier scholars and critics, who discussed the 
subject of human language after the revival of 
learning, and by some even in later times. But 
the great modern masters of the science of lan- 
guage — a science which has been most assiduously 
cultivated, and in which wonderful progress has 
been made in our age — are agreed that Hebrew and 
its cognate dialects, called the Semitic family of 
tongues, as spoken principally by the nations de- 
scended from Shem, have no exclusive claim to be 
considered the fountain of human speech. We are 



134 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

not, then, to suppose that the Hebrew words, in 
which the names of the antediluvians have been 
preserved, were the actual words employed by them. 
Nor can they be mere approximations in sound : 
that is, the old words cast in a Hebrew form, like 
the British names which are found in Roman writers, 
as Caractacus for Caradoch, or Galgacus for Gald 
Cachach ; for in that case their signification would 
not be traceable by means of Hebrew roots. The 
names which we find in the book of Genesis, down 
to the time of Abraham, or perhaps even later, are 
in fact the Hebrew equivalents in sense for the 
original names. They are translations of the old 
names into the language spoken by the writer of 
the history, and those for whom he wrote.* Thus 
in the New Testament we find proper names which 
are translations of Syro-Chaldaic names into Greek, 
as Christ for Messiah, Peter for Cephas, Zelotes for 
Cananite, (Canani,) Didymus for Thomas. 

Some of the most familiar names which occur in 
the subsequent history of the Church are also Greek 
translations of the original names, which have been 
quite superseded by their Greek equivalents, and 
are to most persons entirely unknown. Pelagius, 

* It is the testimony of M. Ernest Renan in his "Histoire 
des Langues Semitiques," that translation was "aproceccl- 
ry familiar to the Orientals in the transcription of 
. names."- Liv. if, ch. i. 



THE NAME OF GOD. 135 

the author of the heresy denominated after him 
" Pelagian," was a Welshman named Morgan — that 
is, " dweller by the sea." Pelagius is the Greek 
for Morgan. A celebrated reformer was named 
Philip Schwartzerd, but we know him only by the 
Greek translation of his surname, Melancthon, 
(black earth.) So another, whose family name was 
Hausschein, (house-light) is, in history and litera- 
ture, QEcolampadius. And we have modern ex- 
amples of the same practice in the narratives of 
travellers or missionaries among people who speak 
languages difficult of pronunciation by us. Often, 
without attempting to give the native names of 
individuals or tribes, they avail themselves of the 
signification of these names, and record them only 
in the English words which are the exact trans- 
lation of their meaning. 

After the names already mentioned, we find 
none of which the name of God certainly forms 
part until we come to the time of Abraham. The 
syllable El now appears for the first time at the 
commencement of a proper name in the word Eii- 
ezer. According to our version, and the generally 
received interpretation of the Hebrew text of Gen. 
xv. 2, which is very obscure, Eliezer of Damascus 
was the steward of Abraham's house. Some critics, 
however, consider that the phrase rendered " stew- 
ard," and which occurs in this passage only, should 



136 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

be understood as " possessor/' or " future pos 
sessor" — that is, the heir; and so conclude that 
Eliezer was the nearest relation to Abraham. But 
the evidently parallel expression which follows in 
ver. 3, "son of my house," not well translated, 
" born in my house/' here, or in Eccl. ii. 7, but 
meaning rather, according to the idiom of the lan- 
guage, "domestic servant," supports the usual in- 
terpretation, "steward." The word Eliezer means 
God (is my) help. It is one of those names the 
etymology of which is explained in Scripture itself, 
for it was the name which Moses gave to his second 
son to express his sense of a special act of Divine 
mercy. " For the God of my fathers/' said he, 
" was mine help, and delivered me from the sword 
of Pharaoh," (Exod. xviii. 4.) We have no explicit 
information as to the reason for the name in any 
other instance ; but, from the explanation thus 
given by Moses, coupled with the fact that the 
name was not originally invented by him, we may 
infer that names already existing were, at least 
occasionally, adopted for the sake' of their actual 
meaning. Hence, even if Abraham's steward was 
not the first who bore the name Eliezer, we may 
suppose that some devout reference to a God of 
providence directed its imposition. It may have 
been assigned to him by his master on his intro- 
duction to his household, for we have examples of 



THE NAME OF GOD. 



■3/ 



the change of name in similar circumstances, as in 
the cases of Joseph, (Gen. xli. 45.) and of Daniel 
and his companions, (Dan. i. 7.) But there is no- 
thing in the name, or in a pious reason for its 
adoption, inconsistent with the supposition that it 
was given him at his birth in the Syrian city of 
Damascus. For some knowledge of the true God 
was certainly possessed by families of the Syrian or 
Aramean races, the descendants of Aram, son of 
Shem \ as is plain from the account given of the 
relatives of Abraham settled in Haran of Mesopo- 
tamia, or Padan-Aram, who are represented as 
speaking of God by his title Jehovah, and recog- 
nizing his providential government of the affairs of 
men, (Gen. xxiv. 31-50.) One of these, also, we 
may observe, had the name of Bethuel. which 
means, " set apart of God,'"' or " consecrated to 
God.'' The Syrian belief and worship was, doubt- 
less, much debased by idolatrous practices, and 
perhaps more so in the region of Damascus than 
in the patriarchal family at Haran, which may have 
enjoyed some advantages from the earlier revela- 
tions made to Abraham : but as there were idols 
in the house of Laban the Syrian, notwithstanding 
his acknowledgment of Jehovah, so, on the other 
hand, there was the possibility of a trust in Jehovah 
among the Syrians of Damascus, notwithstanding 
their idolatry. If a son of Terah, the idolator, meant 



138 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

to devote his offspring to the one only true God, 
by giving him the name of Bethuel, it is conceivable 
that a Damascene may have taken occasion on the 
birth of a son to express his feeling of gratitude for 
blessings received from the same glorious Being by 
calling the child Eliezer. But, however that might 
be, it was undoubtedly an inestimable benefit to 
Eliezer that he was taken into the household of 
Abraham, probably in the passage of the patriarch 
from Haran to the land of Canaan, which would 
hardly be by any other route than that which led 
through the city of Damascus. Under the teaching 
of his master, he would attain a clearer knowledge 
of Him after whom he was called, and of the grace 
and blessedness of His help, than was possible in 
the land of his nativity ; and if, as there is every 
reason to believe, Eliezer was the person whom 
Abraham sent to Haran to procure a wife for 
Isaac, we have evidence, in his whole conduct 
while on that mission, that he was fully actuated 
by the sentiment implied in his name. He sought 
help from God, and God was his help, enabling 
him to fulfil the duty with which he was charged, 
and granting him perfect success. 

The name Eleazar is a slight variation from Eli- 
ezer. The relation between them is the same as 
that noticed between Jehalaleel and Mahalaleel ; 
the word El being compounded with the verb "to 



THE NAME OF GOD. 1 39 

help/ 5 instead of the noun " help/' so as to give the 
meaning " God hath helped.'' There were several 
persons at different periods who bore these names, 
the most conspicuous of whom were Eleazar, the 
son of Aaron, first cousin of Eliezer, son of Moses, 
and probably his senior, and Eliezer, a prophet, 
who was commissioned to reprove Jehoshaphat, 
king of Judah, for his alliance with the wicked 
Ahaziah, king of Israel, (2 Chron. xx. 37.) It may 
be noticed, also, that the name Eleazar had been 
adopted in the family of Levi a generation earlier 
than that of the son of Aaron, for it was given to 
Aaron's first cousin, the grandson of Merari ; and 
the name Eliezer is found in the corresponding 
generation from Benjamin ; so that these names 
had probably come into use among the descendants 
of Jacob before they were given to the sons of 
Moses and Aaron. 

In the apocryphal books of Maccabees, which 
are written in the Greek language, the name Elea- 
zar, by the addition of the Greek termination, os, 
appears in the form Eleazaros, which becomes, 
by abbreviation, the Lazaros, or in the Latin form 
which we use, Lazarus, of the New Testament. 
An incident connected with an individual so called, 
which is related in 2 Mace. viii. 23, gives a proof 
that the Jews of a late period were in the habit of 
noting, on remarkable occasions, the significance 



140 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

of their names. Judas Maccabeus is said to have 
appointed, before an engagement, one Eleazar 
"to read the holy book. And when he had given 
them the watchword, The help of God, he joined 
battle with Nicanor, and by the help of the Al- 
mighty, they slew above nine thousand of their 
enemies." It is evident that the name of the 
reader suggested the watchword, perhaps upon 
the principle, rather heathenish than Jewish, that 
the accidental circumstance of a person who took 
a prominent part in a transaction having a name 
of favourable import was a token of success. This 
incident, like many of the stories in 2 Maccabees, 
is probably fictitious ; but it indicates, as certainly 
as if it were an assured fact, a practice or mode of 
thought prevalent in those times. 

It is thought by some that the occurrence of 
the proper name Lazarus in the parable of the rich 
man and the beggar may be accepted as an 
intimation that the narrative is historical \ there 
being no other of our Lord's parables in which 
a personage is designated by his name. But it is 
far more likely that our Lord adopted the name 
for the sake of its well-known meaning. As 
applied to the diseased, suffering, and friendless 
outcast, who yet was a servant of God, it harmo- 
nizes with one important moral of the parable, — 
that God is the helper of the helpless who putteth 



THE NAME OF GOD. 141 

his trust in Him ; that He is really his helper, 
though He may permit him to pass through 
severest affliction; and that we must look beyond 
the present state of things to discover God's true 
character and relation to His people. 

As the name of the beloved friend of Jesus, 
whom He raised from the dead, we are not to 
suppose that it was given by Divine direction, and 
with a prophetic meaning; but it is singularly 
appropriate to the great events of his personal and 
domestic history. After that event, Lazarus and 
his sisters could hardly fail to regard and to use 
His name as a symbol of the mercy which they 
had experienced, — a perpetual testimony that God 
had helped them by a most wonderful exercise of 
power and love. The Lord had given surnames 
to others of His disciples expressive of their char- 
acter according to the grace given them by Him- 
self. He had done that for the household of 
Bethany which would convert the name of its head 
into a surname expressive of His own character in 
regard to him, as exemplified in the action of 
which it reminded them ; and so it would become 
to them . not only a record of the past, but a pro- 
mise for the future. 

The word El appears in the names of several 
of the sons and grandsons of the twelve patriarchs, 
both as the first and last syllables of the words. 



142 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

A son of Simeon was called Jemuel, "God circum- 
cises (him);" the same person is also called Nemuel, 
" circumcised of (or for) God," (Exod. vi. 15 • Num. 
xxvi. 12.) Here is an obvious reference to the 
custom of giving the name on the day of circum- 
cision, the eighth day after birth ; a custom, how- 
ever, which is not expressly mentioned in the 
Old Testament, and ascertained only by the 
account given by St Luke of the circumcision of 
John the Baptist, from which it is clear that the 
child was always named on the day of this cere- 
mony. This practice is, with much reason, sup- 
posed to have originated in the fact that, at the 
same time when circumcision was instituted by 
God as the seal of his covenant with Abram, the 
patriarch's name was changed to Abraham, and his 
wife's name from Sarai to Sarah. It is somewhat 
remarkable that a latent testimony to the early 
prevalence of this unordained custom should be 
found in a name given to one of his children by 
Abraham's great-grandson. 

One of the sons of Zebulon was named Jahleel, 
more correctly written Jachleel, a word significant 
of hope in God ; but it is doubtful whether it is 
meant to convey the notion of "one who hopes in 
God," or "one hoped for from God." The eldest 
son of Naphtali was Jahzeel, (or rather, Jachtseel,) 
"God distributes, or apportions;" which may 



THE NAME OF GOD. 143 

express thanks to God for a son as a portion, or 
trust in God that He will give this son a portion. 
In the succeeding generations, as exemplified in 
the full pedigrees of the descendants of Levi, we 
find many names similarly compounded. One of 
repeated occurrence is Elkanah, known, perhaps, 
to most readers principally as the name of the 
father of the prophet Samuel. The word Kanah 
(or Qanah) originally means "acquire," "possess," 
being in fact allied to the word Cain, (Qain,) the 
etymology of which is given in the text itself of 
Scripture. And thus it gets the name of "pur- 
chase," "redeem/' "ransom from bondage or 
captivity." It is to be remarked that the first 
person named Elkanah, the son of Korah, and of 
the same generation with Aaron's children, was 
certainly born about the time of the deliverance of 
the people of Israel from Egypt. Hence his name 
is reasonably supposed to have marked that event, 
as having the signification " God redeems." It is 
a singular fact, and certainly corroborative of this 
opinion, that the name of his elder brother is 
Assir, which means "a captive," or "bondsman ;" 
a name which would express the condition of 
every Israelite born shortly before the time of 
Elkanah's nativity. And the probability that the 
name Assir had this special significance is sup- 
ported by its occurrence as the name of the eldest 



H4 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

son of Jeconiah, king of Judah, born, there is good 
reason to believe, as well as his next brother, 
Salathiel, after the captivity and imprisonment of 
Jeconiah in Babylon, (i Chron. hi. 17 ; Matt. i. 12.) 
Elkanah is also the name of three persons, all of 
the line of Kohath, who lived at considerable in- 
tervals during the epoch of the Judges; and may 
well have been given as a memorial, on each 
occasion, of one of those deliverances by divine 
interposition which signalize that period in the 
history of Israel. 

The word El is first met with as part of a name 
given to a female in the instance of Elisheba, of 
the tribe of Judah, the wife of Aaron. Elisheba 
means " God's oath," or, " God is her oath \ " and 
may be an allusion to the great promise to Abra- 
ham confirmed by the oath of God. Perhaps the 
name was an appeal to that oath made in the 
extremity of national depression and distress ; for 
she must have been born towards the close of the 
bondage in Egypt, and about the time during 
which the cruel edict of Pharaoh "for the destruc- 
tion of male children was in operation ; an edict 
intended to effect the extinction of Israel as a 
nation, and their amalgamation with the Egyptians 
by the rearing of a generation consisting exclu- 
sively of females, with whom there would be only 
Egyptians to intermarry. The name Elisheba 



THE NAMES OF GOD. 145 

appears once more, and that among the lineal 
descendants of the first who is recorded to have 
borne it, in the person of Elizabeth, wife of 
Zacharias, and mother of John the Baptist, who is 
stated to have been " of the daughters of Aaron." 
Those who are fully aware how much attention 
was given among the Jews to the meaning of pro- 
per names will not be indisposed to accept the 
probability that Zacharias, in his hymn of praise 
and prophecy, uttered soon after the birth of his 
son, alludes to the name of his wife in introducing 
so prominently "the oath which God sware to 
Abraham. " The occasion of that hymn, they will 
observe, was the naming of his son ; and the 
subject of it the "mercy," or "favour," of God, 
expressed by the name John, (Johanan,) then 
given him according to Divine command. Recol- 
lecting also that the name of Zacharias himself 
means "Jehovah remembers/' it is to be noted, 
that in three consecutive lines we find presented 
to us — first, the mercy of God; secondly, the re- 
membrance of His covenant; thirdly, the oath by 
which it was sanctioned. This juxtaposition of 
three terms which are integral portions, respec- 
tively, of the names of the son, the father, and the 
mother, considering that the whole ode was com- 
posed on the naming and the name of John, can 

hardly be imagined to have been merely accidental 

K 



146 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

Among the twelve princes of the tribes of Israel, 
four times enumerated, on different occasions, in 
the Book of Numbers, eight possessed names com 
pounded with the sacred syllable El. Of these, 
two must particularly attract notice, as occurring 
also in the New Testament, — Nethaneel, prince of 
Issachar, and Gamaliel, prince of Manasseh. 
Nethaneel is the same as Nathanael, the name of 
him whom our Lord pronounced "an Israelite in- 
deed in whom was no guile," and who is most prob- 
ably the apostle Bartholomew, so called as being 
Bar Tolmai, son of Tolmai. It means " God hath 
given ;" and doubtless is the expression of a parent's 
joy, and thankfulness, and recognition of responsi- 
bility, on the birth of a son. Several other persons 
named Nethaneel are mentioned in the Old Testa- 
ment, among whom are a brother of David, and 
a prince sent forth as a teacher by King Jehosha- 
phat. This name also became common in various 
Greek forms, both among heathens and Chris- 
tians. Theodorus, whence the modern Theodore, 
Theodoretus, Theodotus, Theodotion, Theodosius, 
all have the same meaning — viz., "given by God." 
Theodorus and Theodotus are found repeatedly in 
ancient Grecian history ; the former is also the 
name of several Christian bishops, the latter of 
the first heretic who asserted, in the end of the 
>nd century, that Christ was a mure man. 



THE NAMES OF GOD. 147 

Theodosius was the name of several Greek em- 
perors of the East, the first and greatest of whom, 
in the 4th century, published a famous edict 
in support of the doctrine of the Trinity. Theo- 
dotion, in the 2d century, translated the Old Tes- 
tament into Greek. And Theodoretus (usually 
called Theodoret) was a bishop, and author of 
an Ecclesiastical History, and other works, in the 
5th century. The word Gamaliel means " recom- 
pense, or benefit, of God/' It will be recognised 
as the name of the distinguished Pharisee and 
Scribe who, as a member of the Sanhedrim, of- 
fered the wise and moderate, though temporizing 
counsel which had the effect of mitigating the 
persecution of the apostles by that body, and who 
was also the theological instructor of St Paul in 
the days of his youth, when he " made proficiency 
in the Jews' religion above many his equals in his 
own nation," and was doubtless preparing for the 
office of a Scribe or doctor of the law. No other 
persons are called by this name in Scripture. 

As we have compared the name Nethaneel with 
several of its more modern equivalents, we may 
also notice that Shelamiel, the name of the prince 
of the tribe of Simeon, the meaning of which is 
"at peace with God," or possibly " God's peace- 
maker," very closely resembles the German Gottes- 
fried, " God's peace," whence Gottfried, and the 



148 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

Anglo-Saxon Godfrith, and so our English God- 
frey. We have also a common surname, which was 
originally a baptismal or Christian name, of very 
. much the same signification, in Godwin, which is 
"friend, or beloved, of God." 

The name of the artificer supernaturally en- 
dowed by God with skill to execute the great 
works of the Tabernacle in the wilderness was 
Bezaleel. It is worthy of notice as a triple com- 
pound, meaning " under the shadow of God ; " or, 
possibly, "God (is) for a shade;" the syllable Be 
being a preposition which may express, in such a 
case, either of these notions, — "under," or, "for." 
The name of Bezaleel's father was Uri ; which 
means " light," or perhaps " light of Jehovah," and 
may have suggested the opposite or rather comple- 
mentary idea of shadow, or shade, as a designation 
of the son. A name of the same import, Zilthai, 
"shadow of Jehovah," occurs as that of a chief 
of the tribe of Manasseh, who joined David at 
Ziklag, and that of an otherwise unknown person 
of the tribe of Benjamin, (1 Chron. xii. 20, viii. 20.) 
The sentiment implied in these names is one to 
which utterance is frequently given in the Word 
of God, in the language of prayer, and trust, and 
promise. " Hide me under the shadow of thy 
wrings." " In the shadow of thy wings will I make 
im refuge." " Thou hast been a refuge from the 



THE NAMES OF GOD, 149 

storm, a shadow from the heat." " He that 
dwelleth in the secret places of the most High 
shall dwell under the shadow of the Almighty." It 
was a happy thing for the possessors of these 
names if they habitually offered the prayer, and 
exercised the trust, and realized the promise in- 
volved in their deep significance. 

Passing over a multitude of names of no note, 
and some which belong more properly to other di- 
visions of our subject, we find two very remarkable 
personages in the history of the kingdom of Israel 
bearing the names of God — the prophets Elijah 
and Elisha. The name of the former prophet is 
written Elijahu w T hen first introduced, and when- 
ever it occurs in the first book of Kings ; but in 
several passages of the second book (chap. 1) it is 
found in the form which we use, Elijah, as in Ma- 
lachi, and in 1 Chron. viii. 27, and Ezra, x. 21, 26, 
where it is mentioned as the name of three undis- 
tinguished persons. In two of these latter pas- 
sages the word is written Eliah in our version, 
though exactly the same in Hebrew as Elijah. 
Some have interpreted the word Elijahu " a mighty 
(God) is Jehovah," understanding the syllable El 
in its original sense, "a strong one." Others, at- 
taching the same sense to El, take the latter syl- 
lables in a verbal signification, and render, " mighty 
is he who shall be," that is, " almighty is the Eter- 



150 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

nal." But it is to be observed that the same ter- 
minal variation occurs in other instances ; several 
names usually ending in iah or jah being some- 
times written with the termination jah u. So that 
it is most in accordance with the general significa- 
tion of names of this class to consider the endings 
jah andjaAu of the prophet's name as implying the 
shorter or longer form of the word Jehovah, and so 
to render it " My God is Jehovah," or " Jehovah 
is God." The name, therefore, of the prophet is 
remarkably appropriate to his peculiar character 
and position. For it was his especial mission to 
restore in the kingdom of Israel the worship of the 
one only God, under His revealed name Jehovah, 
in opposition to the worship of Baal, and other 
false gods, which had been established by Ahab 
and his heathen queen, Jezebel. It might seem, 
indeed, as if his name suggested to the multitudes 
who witnessed on Mount Carmel the great miracle 
which attested the truth he taught the cry by which 
they acknowledged that truth, — " Jehovah he is the 
God, Jehovah he is the God." As Elijah is intro- 
duced in the sacred record very abruptly, and no- 
thing is said about his previous history or parent- 
age, it is conceivable that he was directed to assume 
a name expressive of his vocation and ministry — a 
supposition countenanced by the imposition of 
titular names on various occasions, to mark the 



THE NAMES OF GOD. 1 5 1 

character or destiny of individuals, and especially 
by the surnames given by our Lord to Simon and 
other apostles. On considering the many and, 
some of them, comparatively minute points of 
designed similarity between him and the great 
prophet of the New Testament, John the Baptist, it 
appears not unlikely that, as the latter had a signifi 
cant name provided by Divine command, his pre- 
decessor and type in the office of reformer of the 
people, and witness for God, was also designated 
from his birth, under Divine influence, by a title 
which should intimate his relation to God and the 
people. It is worthy of remark that the official 
and spiritual identity of John with Elijah was pro- 
phetically and mystically denoted by the prediction 
of Malachi, which foretold the appearance of the 
Baptist under the very name of Elijah : " Behold, 
I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great 
and dreadful day of the Lord ;" and hence the expec- 
tation of Jewish Scribes that Elijah would re-appear 
on earth before the advent of the Messiah ; hence 
also the necessity of the explanation given by our 
Lord to His disciples, "Elias is come already;" 
"This [John the Baptist] is Elias which was for to 
come." Since, then, the close connection existing 
between these prophets in their work and character 
was thus indicated by means of the name of the 
earlier, it is quite consistent with this fact that 



152 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

there should be a resemblance in the circumstances 
in which their names originated, so that the choice 
of the earlier as well as the later name should be 
the special act of God. 

Elisha, the name of the successor of Elijah in his 
office as prophet of Israel, signifies " God (is) sal- 
vation." It would be presumptuous to assume 
from the comparison of the prophet's name with 
the events of his life, in the absence of any other 
grounds for the conjecture, that his parents were 
divinely directed in selecting such an appellation 
for their son, It is, however, in singular accord- 
ance with the peculiar nature of his mission, and 
is the utterance of a sentiment which almost every 
action recorded of him must have suggested to the 
minds of the faithful in Israel. He was emphati- 
cally the messenger of mercy, and the prophet ot 
deliverance and salvation, to individuals, to families, 
to communities, to armies, and to the whole people. 
He announced the precious gift of a son to the 
childless Shunammite, and when that son was 
taken away by death he was the instrument of his 
restoration. He rescued the widow of a servant 
of the Lord from destitution, and her sons from 
bondage, by his miraculous increase of the pot of 
oil. He gave fertility and salubrity to a barren and 
unhealthy locality by the healing of the waters. In 
the time of famine, he multiplied the scanty sup- 



THE NAMES OF GOD. 1 5 3 

plies of the college of the prophets, so as to afford 
an abundant provision of food ■ and when they had 
all unwittingly partaken of a poisonous potion, he 
cast meal into the pot, and they drank of the 
deadly thing and it did not hurt them. He proved 
to the great Syrian warrior Naaman that u God is 
salvation/' and brought him to the acknowledgment 
that there was no God in all the earth but in Israel, 
by effecting his deliverance from the fearful curse 
of leprosy. And when the three armies of Israel, 
Judah, and Edom, headed by their respective 
kings, were in danger of perishing for want of 
water and by the sword of Moab, the monarchs 
applied to him in the extremity of their distress ; 
and by him God vouchsafed to them preservation 
from destruction by drought, and victory over their 
enemies. In the siege of Samaria, the metropolis 
of his native land, when the wretched inhabitants 
were suffering from the last and worst horrors of 
famine, and all hope was abandoned, he was com- 
missioned to proclaim sudden and complete relief, 
immediate abundance and safety, and the Lord 
fulfilled His word. On one signal occasion, the fact 
expressed by his name was exhibited in as close 
connection with his personal identity as his name 
itself, when, surrounded by the hosts of Syria, sent 
for the purpose of capturing him, he asked permis- 
sion for his terrified attendant to behold what was 



154 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

ever perceptible to his own mental vision, the pro- 
tecting and saving power of the Almighty exercised 
on his behalf, when " the Lord opened the eyes of 
the young man, and he saw T , and behold the moun- 
tain w r as full of horses and chariots of fire, round 
about Elisha." The last act of his life was the per- 
formance of the duty which was characteristic of 
his ministry, — the delivery of a message of mercy 
to an unworthy king and people in the promise of 
thrice-repeated victory over their invading enemies. 
In that closing scene w T e discover the only semblance 
afforded in the history of any reference to the import 
of the prophet's name. It will be remembered that 
Elisha employed a symbolical action to indicate 
the promised victories. He required the King of 
Israel to take bow and arrow, put his hand on the 
king's hands, and then bade him M open the win- 
dow eastward and shoot ;" and, as he did so, Elisha 
said, " The arrow of Jehovah's deliverance, and the 
arrow of deliverance from Syria." Now the word 
here rendered deliverance is teshua, from the same 
root of the same meaning with yishq, " salvation," 
or " deliverance," which, in composition with El, 
forms the word Elisha. This is a coincidence 
not to be passed over, but at the same time not 
such as to be considered a decisive proof that the 
prophet in his dying moments was led to conse- 
crate his name as a memorial of the promise, and 



THE NAMES OF GOD. 155 

as a testimony to Israel that God alone, who had 
given the promise, was the author of their deliver- 
ance, and the Being to whom alone they must look 
for salvation. 

Of the prophets whose writings form part of the 
prophetical portion of Holy Scripture, three — Eze- 
kiel, Daniel, and Joel — evidently have names com- 
pounded with El, God. Reserving the name Joel 
for subsequent consideration, we observe that 
Ezekiel is the name also of a priest who was at 
the head of the 20th of the 24 courses into 
which the families of Eleazar and Ithamar, sons 
of Aaron, were divided by David. But his name, 
though in Hebrew exactly the same as that of the 
prophet, is written by the translator of the book of 
Chronicles, where it is mentioned, (1 Chr. xxiv. 16,) 
Jehezekel. The form Ezekiel seems borrowed 
in its first syllable from the word Ezekel, employed 
in the Septuagint version of Chronicles, and in its 
penultimate from J ezekiel in the same version of the 
prophecy. The right form is Jehizqel, where J is 
to be pronounced y, and h as a strong guttural. 
The meaning of the word is, " God strengthens," or 
" (whom) God shall strengthen." The reader must 
judge whether any allusion to the prophet's name 
is to be detected in the language in which God, 
when giving him his commission, encouraged him 
against the opposition and persecution which he 



156 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

was to expect. His words were, " Behold, I have 
made thy face strong against their faces, and thy 
forehead strong against their forehead. As an ada- 
mant harder (stronger) than flint have I made thy 
forehead." The w r ord " strong," here so emphati- 
cally repeated, is hazaq, which is easily identified 
with its cognate Ezek, or Jehezek, in the name of 
Ezekiel. Certainly, the prophet, in dealing with 
the people of the captivity, to whom he was sent, 
had frequent reason to think of the meaning of this 
name, and to desire its verification in his own ex- 
perience, whether or not he was entitled to regard 
it as the promise which sealed his commission. 

The name Daniel is first found in 1 Chr. iii. 1 as 
given to a son of David's, whose mother was Abi- 
gail, formerly wife of Nabal the Carmelite. The 
same person is called Chileab in 2 Sam. iii. 3. As 
in the case of another son of David's, Solomon, 
who had also the name Jedidiah, Chileab may have 
borne the second name Daniel, with reference to 
the circumstances which led to his mother's be- 
coming the wife of David. The w r ord means "God 
is judge/' or " God hath judged;' and " to judge," 
as expressed by the verb din, an element of this 
word, has frequently the sense of " redressing," 
" avenging the cause," of a needy or wronged per- 
son. It is applicable, therefore, in this sense to 
the quarrel between Nabal and David, and the 



THE NAMES OF GOD. 1 5 7 

providential interferences by which it was decided. 
The name is found also belonging to a priest men- 
tioned in Ezra and Nehemiah, who went up with 
Ezra from Babylon. As the name of the prophet, 
it has no known or observable connexion with his 
authentic history. It may, however, especially if 
we understand it to mean " a judge of God," as 
some lexicographers give it, account for the selec- 
tion of the prophet as the principal personage in 
the apocryphal legend of Susanna, where David is 
represented as a judge raised up and inspired by 
God for the purpose of correcting an erroneous 
judgment, and clearing and redressing the inno- 
cent. It is due to this legend that the name of the 
prophet has become synonymous with " a wise 
judge/' and so has been put into the mouth of 
Shylock, the Jew, by Shakspeare, in the drama of 
"The Merchant of Venice," — " A Daniel come to 
judgment ; yea, a Daniel/' 

Of the heavenly beings mentioned in the Scrip- 
tures under various appellations, but chiefly under 
that of angels, or " messengers " of God, the names 
of two only are stated — Gabriel and Michael. 
Both of these names contain the name of God. 
Gabriel is recorded to have appeared to the pro- 
phet Daniel, and to Zacharias, the father of John 
the Baptist, and Mary, the mother of our Lord. The 
account given of the first of these appearances suffi- 



158 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

ciently indicates the meaning of the name. " There 
stood before me," says Daniel, " as the appear- 
ance of a man (Garer), and I heard a man's (Adam, 
i.e., human) voice . . . which called and said, Ga- 
briel, make this man to understand the vision." 
(Dan. viii. 15, 16.) The word Gaber, (or Gaver,) 
of which, with El, Gabriel is compounded, is a 
term of honour for " a man," connected with the 
verb Gaber, which signifies to be strong ; just as 
zrir, the equivalent word in Latin, is allied to vis, 
strength. Hence some consider the meaning of 
Gabriel to be " strength of God." But the passage 
above quoted certainly authorizes the general 
preference of the sense " man of God f and this 
is strongly supported by the expression used in the 
next chapter, (ix. 21,) " the man Gabriel," where 
another word, but of similar import, is the term 
for " man." Thus, in the book of Judges, the 
Being who appeared to Manoah and his wife, and 
who is repeatedly called " the angel of Jehovah," 
is spoken of as " a man of God," and " the man." 
And, in the gospel narrative of our Lord's resurrec- 
tion and ascension, the angels who appeared to the 
women at the sepulchre, and to the apostles on the 
Mount of Olives, are described as " men," "two 
men in shining garments." The human form in 
which these inhabitants of heaven conversed with 
rtals accounts for their designation as men; and, 



THE NAMES OF GOD, 159 

the phrase " man of God/' or the name " Gabriel/' 
applied to an angel, represents him as the com- 
missioner or representative of God for the purpose 
of declaring His will, or communicating some reve- 
lation, in personal and familiar converse with 
mortals. 

No other personage than the angel Gabriel is 
known to have been called by this name. It is 
very different with the name Michael, which we 
find belonging to a considerable number of persons 
mentioned in various genealogies, from the time of 
Moses to that of Ezra: but not one of these is a 
person of distinction, nor is anything known of 
them except their name and parentage. Michael 
is an example of the comparatively small class of 
proper names composed of more than two words. 
It means " who (is) like God f and, undoubtedly, 
on account of its meaning it was selected to repre- 
sent the mighty and mysterious Being who is spoken 
of under this title in various parts of the Word of 
God. In the account given by Daniel of the last 
of his recorded visions, the personage who con- 
versed with him, and who, there is good reason to 
believe, was the Lord himself, refers to Michael 
as " one of the chief princes/*' then as " your 
prince/' explained afterwards by the words, " the 
great prince which standeth for the children of thy 
people." In the Epistle of Jude he is called 



160 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

" Michael the archangel," or chief angel, one of 
the "principalities and powers in heavenly places " 
mentioned by St Paul in Eph. iii. 10. And the 
almost certain reference in the words of St Jude 
to the scene described by Zechariah the prophet, 
in the third chapter of his prophecy, seems to in- 
timate that he is the same with that angel of the 
Lord who there speaks in the name, and as the re- 
presentative, of Jehovah ; and if so, the same with 
the "angel of the Lord " who spoke and acted in 
a similar manner in the time of Moses and Joshua, 
the " angel" in whom God had said He would "put 
His name," and whom He promised to send as the 
leader and guide of His people. These are con- 
siderations which will probably appear to many to 
favour the supposition that Michael is a title of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, who certainly was the "angel 
of the covenant," and the "angel of Jehovah's 
presence." In that case, the name "Who is like 
God" would be an intimation that He, and none 
but He, is the "great prince" of His "people," as well 
as "the head of all principality and power/' and 
also an expression of the blessedness of Israel, that 
is, His Church, in having Him who is almighty 
for its head and protector. So that it would em- 
body both the lofty sentiments of the conclusion of 
the blessing of Moses, " There is none like unto the 
God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in 



THE NAME OF GOD. 1 6 1 

thy help. Happy art thou, Israel : who is like 
unto thee, a people saved by Jehovah, the shield of 
thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency," ' 
(Deut. xxxiii. 26, 29.) But, on the other hand, 
there is so obviously a distinction made, on several 
occasions, between the angel of Jehovah and Je- 
hovah himself, that we are hardly justified in in- 
sisting upon the comparison of Jude 9 with Zech. 
iii. 2, as a conclusive proof of their identity : and 
besides, as before stated, the Lord Jesus, the inter- 
locutor with Daniel, certainly speaks of Michael 
as a personage distinct from Himself. And if the 
archangel, whose voice, according to the testimony 
of St Paul, shall sound at the judgment-day, is the 
same with the only other being called by that title, — 
namely, Michael, so spoken of by St Jude, — we have 
another proof of his distinction from the Lord 
Jesus \ for " the Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 
and with the trump of God." Understanding 
Michael, therefore, to be the "chief of angels,'' as 
he is represented, though not so denominated, in 
the vision in the Apocalypse of the war in heaven, 
(Rev. xii. 7-9,) his name "who is like God" will 
denote subordination and dependence— subordina- 
tion of the highest created dignity to that which is 
higher than the highest, and dependence of the 

mightiest upon Him who is Almighty. And as, in 

L 



1 62 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

the case of human beings by whom it was chosen 
for their own name, or the name of their children, 
it must have expressed exulting trust and confi- 
dence in God, such also, we may apprehend, is its 
significance as the name of an archangel. Faith, 
reliance upon God alone, is the great principle of 
spiritual life, power, obedience, and service amongst 
the most exalted of the heavenly hierarchy, as well 
as amongst the humble followers of the Saviour 
during their earthly pilgrimage. 

There is also in the phrase, " who is like God," 
an admiring acknowledgment of the transcendent 
unapproachable majesty of the Divine nature. 
Even a heathen poet, celebrating the praises of 
the universal Parent and Lord, rose to the lofty 
sentiment of this name. " Nor doth aught exist/' 
said Horace, "like or second to Him." * And the 
appropriation of such a name to the greatest in 
power and might among the angels, the leader of 
the hosts of heaven, if it be at all meant, as we 
cannot doubt that it is, to be descriptive of His 
character and position, must impress upon our 
minds the truth, that, between the highest of 
created spiritual beings, and God the Creator, 
there is the distance of infinity. 

Herein, also, is implied the utter impossibility of 
arriving at an absolute knowledge of God. The 

* Carminum, lib. i. 12. 



THE NAME OF GOD. . 163 

title of the great archangel proclaims in heaven 
the challenge addressed to mortals on earth, "To 
whom will ye liken God % or what likeness will ye 
compare unto him % To whom will ye liken me, or 
shall I be equal % saith the Holy One." There is no 
resemblance, no analogy, no medium, no approxi- 
mation, of which any intelligence below the Su- 
preme can avail itself, in order to understand 
Deity. We are, indeed, assured that even the 
sons of men who have received u power to become 
sons of God," when admitted to the heavenly state, 
and the fellowship of angels and of the spirits of 
the just made perfect, shall see face to face, and 
"know even as they are known." They shall en- 
joy the presence and the converse of Him in 
whom " dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily." Their knowledge of God in Him shall 
be personal and direct, but it is not meant that it 
shall be commensurate with God's knowledge of 
themselves. It shall increase, doubtless, perpetu- 
ally, and without limit ; but it cannot reach per- 
fection, for that would be Omniscience. God 
alone can perfectly know what God is ; and when 
our knowledge of Him shall as far transcend that 
now possessed by Michael, as his now transcends 
ours, he and we together shall unite in the confes- 
sion involved in his name, that the mystery of 
the Godhead is inscrutable. 




VI. 



NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH THE NAME 
OF GOD, (JEHOVAH.) 

SHE second class of proper names com- 
posed partly of a name of God consists 
of words in which Jehovah, in the form 
offe/i, or Ja/i, or Jeho, occurs at the beginning, or 
as Jah (often written zah,) or Jahu, at the end. 
This class is more numerous than that of the com- 
pounds with EL But, in remarkable correspond- 
ence with the statement reported by Moses, how- 
ever interpreted, that God was not made known 
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by His name Je- 
hovah, compounds with this name do not occur 
among the antediluvian patriarchs, nor among 
the postdiluvian until we reach the generation of 
Jacob's grandchildren, perhaps even great-grand- 
children. Jt is also singular that the first person 
recorded as having borne a name of this character 
was a female. This was Jochebed, mother of 



THE NAME OF GOD. 165 

Moses and Aaron. In our version she is called 
her husband Amranrs "fathers sister." If this be 
correct, she was daughter of Levi. But the single 
Hebrew word rendered " fathers sister ;; is cap 
able of the meaning " cousin \ ; ' for in this sense the 
masculine form of the same word is certainly used 
in Jer. xxxii. 12. It was thus understood by the 
Septuagint translators, who expressly call Jochebed 
"the daughter of his [Amram's] fathers brother/' 
And indeed it is scarcely conceivable that a 
daughter of Levi, even though born when he was 
of an advanced age, and herself bearing children 
late in life, could have been the mother of Moses 
and Aaron ; for, on the computation which gives 
the briefest period for the duration of the sojourn 
of the Israelites in Egypt, the time from Levi's 
settlement in Egypt to the birth of Moses cannot 
have been less than 130 years. It is true that in 
Num. xxvi. 59 she is said to have been "the 
daughter of Levi, whom (her mother) bare to Levi 
in Egypt" But the passage has evident marks of 
imperfect preservation ; and a different reading is 
indicated by the Septuagint version, which gives, 
"a daughter of Levi who bare these [i.e., Moses, 
and Aaron, and Miriam] to Levi in Egypt." And 
" a daughter of Levi ;; by no means signifies his 
actual daughter, as appears in the case of Eliza- 
beth, mother of John the Baptist, who is said to 



1 66 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

have been " of the daughters of Aaron." Most 
probably, then, Jochebed was the grand-daughter 
of Levi ; and if so, in the same generation with 
several other persons whose names are com- 
pounded with Jah. But these are grandchildren 
of sons of Jacob who were younger than Levi/' 
So that, as has been stated, it is reasonable to be- 
lieve that she is the earliest born of all those who 
are recorded in Scripture to have possessed such 

* In I Chron. v. 4 a person called Joel (a name com- 
posed of Jah and El) is mentioned immediately after the son 
of Reuben, Jacob's eldest son ; whence some have supposed 
that Joel was the immediate offspring of one of these. But 
this is shewn to be impossible, by the fact that the line of 
Joel's descendants down to the year 740 B.C. is stated to con- 
sist of only seven generations. Now, if Joel was the grandson 
of Reuben, and each of the descendants in the pedigree wa^s 
bom when the father was fifty years of age, the line would 
not reach half way to the year 740 B.C. Joel, therefore, 
was some person of importance in the line of Reuben, from 
whom, rather than any one of his ancestors, the chronologist 
chose to trace the descent of the last prince of that tribe, 
who was carried into Assyria in the year above named. 
The historical pre-eminence of Joel is clear from the state- 
ment made, just after the record of his genealogy, that Bela, 
the head of a junior branch of the house of Reuben, who 
seems to have largely extended his territory, was, as well as 
the chief prince of the tribe, descended from him. This 
Bela was the great-grandson of Joel, and flourished, as we 
may conclude by comparing verses 7 and 1 7, in the reign of 
Jeroboam II., king of Israel. Now, as Jeroboam II. was great- 
grandson of Jehu, it is possible that Joel was contemporary 
with that king. 



THE NAME OF GOD. 167 

names. At any rate, she is the first of them men- 
tioned in Scripture. The meaning of her name is 
" glory of Jehovah," or " Jehovah (is her or our) 
glory." It is plain, from this being the name of 
the mother of Moses, that the announcement of 
Jehovah, as the name of God, was not made for the 
first time when God revealed Himself in an especial 
manner under that title to Moses in the burning 
bush. The name Jochebed does not again occur, 
though there are others of similar signification ; as, 
for example, Mahalaleel, already noticed (p. 132) 
as one of the earliest and antediluvian names. It 
denotes a grateful acknowledgment of Jehovah in 
giving family blessings ; or it may be an adoring 
acknowledgment of Him in contrast with the 
heathenism of Egypt, or with the idolatrous prac- 
tices into which the mass of the Israelitish nation 
had fallen. Similar compounds with the several 
names for Deity are found in the Greek names 
Theocles, "God-famous," or Theocydes "God-glo- 
rious ] " and with names of particular deities, as 
Diodes, "Jove-famous;" Athenocles, "Athene- (Mi- 
nerva) -famous." These probably were of kindred 
signification with the names Theodorus, (which we 
have compared with Nathanael,) Diodorus, Athen- 
odorus j attributing the birth of a child to the favour 
of the Supreme Being or of some tutelar god. 
Following the exact order of succession of the 



i68 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

sons of Jacob and the subsequent generations, the 
next name of this class that we are now consider- 
ing is found connected with the second generation 
from Judah, and this also is the name of a female. 
The wife of his grandson Hezron. who survived 
her husband, and bore a son after his death, was 
called Abiah. But as she is probably the same as 
the daughter of Machir, son of Manasseh, whom 
Hezron is said to have married as his second wife 
when he was threescore years old, she was herself 
of the third generation from Joseph, a son of Jacob 
much younger than Judah, her husband's grand- 
father. If she was another person, and Hezron's 
third wife, she would, in all probability, be of the 
same or even the next lower generation, (i Chron. 
ii. 21, 24.) We may here pause to notice an un- 
designed coincidence, verifying these scriptural 
genealogies, of precisely the same nature with one 
which occurs m the family of Abraham, as pointed 
out by the late Professor Blunt, in his book on the 
undesigned coincidences of the Old Testament. 
Rebekah, the grand-daughter of Abraham's brother. 
he observes, became the wife of Abraham's son, 
Isaac. That Isaac's wife should be not of his own 
generation, but of the next below it, agrees with 
the fact of his birth having taken place so late in 
his fathers lifetime. Hezron, the grandson of 
Judah, was married to the daughter of Machir, 



THE XAjIE OF GOD. i 69 

the grandson of Joseph. Now. from the fact that 
Tudah was the fourth child of Jacob, and Joseph 
the twelfth, it might be surmised that Hezron 
would be much older than his father-in-law Machir, 
and a more suitable husband for Machir's sister 
than his daughter. But it will be found that 

aiez, the father of Hezron, was born when 
Judah, his father, was considerably advanced in 
life, and had had sons grown up and married : so 
that Hezron was probably younger than Machir. 
Add to this that he married a second time when 
he f years old, and we have abundant 

reason for his choosing a wife of a generation 
lower than his own. Such accordance between 
Tinents made in iifferent portions of the sacred 
records, and certainly not made for the purpose of 
supporting each other, but discoverable only en 
careful examination, not only confirms the accu- 
racy of the genealogies, but substantiates the Scrip- 
ture chronology connected with them in relation 
to the period of the sojourn of the Israelites in 
pt 

But to return to the name of the person whose do- 
mestic history has given occasion for this digression. 
Abiah means " Jehovah (is my) Father," and oc- 
curs frequently in various forms, and at different 
periods. Ir records, doubtless, the fervent as] 
tion of hirn who first devised it as a name, and, 



170 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

we may hope, of many who subsequently adopted 
it, after that endearing and intimate relationship 
between God and the soul of man, which is truly 
expressed by the words " father" and " child." 
Or did it not even involve the double testimony of 
which the apostle spoke, in an age of clearer light 
and ampler grace 1 — " The Spirit itself beareth 
witness with our spirit that we are the children 
of God." It may be accepted as a proof that be- 
lievers in ancient days, though they had not pos- 
session of the perfect knowledge of " the mystery 
of God and of the Father and of Christ," or of the 
doctrine of the Holy Ghost, nevertheless " received 
the spirit of adoption," that God " sent forth the 
Spirit of his Son into their hearts, crying, Abba, 
Father. " And this is the more remarkable, as evinced 
by the choice of a proper name, from the fact that 
the title and character of Father is not very fre- 
quently assumed by God, or assigned to Him, in the 
Old Testament. Certainly there is no sign or trace 
of the appellation in any of the records which pre- 
serve the accounts of God's communications with 
His chosen ones, or of theirs with Him, before 
the time when such a name as Abiah was first 
given. The spiritual instinct of the believer 
caught at the highest privileges, and appropriated 
them personally, though they were rarely and in- 
distinctly announced; or inferred them from bless- 



THE NAME OF GOD. 1 7 1 

ings already enjoyed, claimed them in faith and 
hope, and anticipated, in desires and prayers, the 
grace of a fuller revelation. 

In another instance this name is found belong- 
ing to a female. It is attributed to the mother of 
King Hezekiah in the Second Book of Chronicles. 
But the same person is called Abi in the Second 
Book of Kings. So the son of Rehoboam, king of 
Judah, who is named Abijah in 2 Chronicles, 
is Abijam in 1 Kings. Some would account for 
the variation in the latter case by the bad char- 
acter of the monarch, which, in the estimation of 
the writer of the earlier book, who was doubtless 
a prophet, and perhaps a contemporary, rendered 
him unworthy of the sacred name. This opinion 
is in some degree countenanced by the importance 
generally attached to the meaning of proper names, 
and by the significance, to be afterwards noticed, 
of the addition oijah to existing names. But, in 
the absence of any direct intimation of a change 
of name in the Book of Kings, it appears more 
probable that the names Abijam and Abijah were 
synonymous, the syllable jam expressing greatness 
or superlativeness, as in the case of Miriam, Elam, 
and other words of the same class, and so, by im- 
plication, being equivalent to the name of God when 
following such a word as Abi or Ab, "father." 
The word Abi, standing alone, would also be per- 



i;2 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

haps understood as having a reference to God. 
Other single words are in use as proper names, 
which sometimes have the addition el or yah; as 
Uri, Uriel, Urijah ; Ahi, Ahijah. The bearer of 
the simple name had, probably, in some such cases, 
a right to the compound ; and circumstances may 
easily be imagined which would determine the 
ordinary addition or omission of the sacred sylla- 
ble, which, being common to so many names, did 
not, of course, so much as the other part of the 
word, distinguish the individual. Another solu- 
tion of the difficulty presented by these variations 
is found in deriving the word Abi from a word 
which signifies "to desire," and so rendering "Abi" 
desire, — /.<?., " object of desire," — and considering 
the addition jah, though really the name Jehovah, 
as merely expressive of intensity or superlativeness, 
according to the usage of the word God in some 
passages, (Ps. xxxvi. 7, margin; lxxx. 10; Acts 
vii. 20.) Consequently, Abijah, "desire of Jeho- 
vah," would be equivalent to Abijam, " supreme 
desire ;" both signifying " chief object of desire." 
But it is very doubtful whether any form of the 
strictly proper name Jehovah can be used in 
the same way as El, the general name for Deity, 
to denote excellence, dignity, or intensity; and it 
IS much more likely that Abijam, "great or su- 
preme father," should be equivalent to "Jehovah 



THE NAME OF GOD. 1 73 

my father/' than that Abijah, " desire of Jeho- 
vah," should signify "my great desire." In the 
description of Nimrod, as " a mighty hunter before 
Jehovah/' 5 the words " before Jehovah" are indeed 
taken by some to mean only " distinguished above 
all other/*' or " greatest, supreme of hunters ;" but 
as he has been already called " mighty/" it is im- 
probable that a second expression of similar import 
should immediately follow. They may mean the 
same as " under heaven/" or "in the sight of God," 
but this is very different from being equivalent to 
a mere attributive. 

The name Abiah occurs again very early as that 
of the grandson of Benjamin, (1 Chron. vii. 8,) who 
was probably older than the daughter of Machir. 
It is also the name of one of the unworthy sons of 
the prophet Samuel. And it is very remarkable 
that it was given to the son of Jeroboam, the 
first king of the ten tribes, a man so distinguished 
for his wickedness in establishing idolatry that he 
is constantly spoken of as " Jeroboam, the son of 
Xebat, who made Israel to sin." The choice of 
such a name for his son will appear still more ex- 
traordinary, if we accept as true history an account 
of some portion of the life of Jeroboam which is 
found in certain copies of the Septuagint version 
of the First Book of Kings, fuller than that which 
exists in Hebrew, and with slight variations from it. 



174 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

In that account, the wife of Jeroboam is said to 
have been Ano, sister of the queen of Egypt, whom 
he married while an exile in that country during 
Solomon's reign ; so that the mother of Abijah was 
in all probability an idolatress. It is singular, too, 
that the name of the son of the new king of Israel 
should be the same as that of the son of Rehoboam, 
king of Judah, who was designated by his father, 
from among many other sons, as his successor. Per- 
haps this circumstance may be thought to afford a 
clue to the explanation of the coincidence. Jero- 
boam, among other politic measures of imitation, 
by which he endeavoured to sustain his government 
and dynasty, may have adopted for his own son 
the name of the heir-apparent of Judah ; a name 
which implied a recognition of Jehovah as God, an 
acknowledgment of His claim to veneration, trust, 
and obedience. But what is most surprising of all 
is, that this son of Jeroboam was worthy of his 
name, and proved himself, even in infancy, a child 
of God. According to the testimony of the aged 
prophet Ahijah, when he foretold his death to the 
queen his mother, " In him there was found some 
good thing towards Jehovah, the God of Israel, in 
the house of Jeroboam." The " good thing in him 
towards Jehovah" was fully expressed by his name. 
This Abijah did indeed regard Jehovah as his 
lather, and his heavenly Father displayed His 



THE NAME OF GOD. 1 75 

parental love and care for him ; for He took him 
to Himself from the evil to come. 

Names in which Jah and El form part are more 
frequent among the early generations of Issachar 
and Benjamin, than among those of any other of 
the sons of Jacob. Tola, eldest son of Issachar, 
had six sons, the second of whom was called 
Rephaiah, and two others, Jeriel (God beholds or 
regards) and Shemuel (the same as Samuel.) The 
eldest son of Tola had a son named Izrahiah, and 
Izrahiah's sons were Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and 
Ishiah. The name, or one of the names, of a son 
of Benjamin was Jediael, (knowledge of God.) 
Among nine grandsons of Benjamin, sons of Be- 
cher, we find the names Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, 
and Abiah. 

The word Rephaiah means " Jehovah hath 
healed," or "whom Jehovah hath healed." But 
" heal" may be here used in the sense of " forgive," 
or " restore to prosperity or comfort." In its 
primary sense, it would indicate the recovery of 
the person in early infancy from dangerous sick- 
ness ; in its secondary uses, it would probably ex- 
press a parent's feeling of thankfulness for mercies 
experienced at the time of the birth of a child. 
Among various other persons mentioned as bearing 
this name, one also, of the tribe of Benjamin, is 
called, in a parallel passage, Rapha, which means 



i/6 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

simply " he hath healed." But, obviously, it is to 
be understood as synonymous with the composite 
word Rephaiah, the blessing implied being tacitly 
referred to Jehovah as its author. This is one of 
those instances before alluded to, in which a per- 
son might be sometimes spoken of by a simple 
term, denoting an act or character, and sometimes 
by that term in explicit union with the Divine 
name ; it being understood in the former case, as 
in the latter, that the act or character is to be 
ascribed to God. It may thus happen that a per- 
son may appear to us to have two different names, 
while to the Hebrew ear and mind they are iden- 
tical. For example, we find the name Reaiah, as 
that of the son of Shobal, in i Chron. iv. 2. The 
word means " Jehovah hath seen or regarded." 
But the son of the same Shobal is called Haroeh 
in chap. ii. 52. Now Haroeh does not, to our ap- 
prehension, much resemble Reaiah, yet it has the 
same affinity with it that Rapha has with Rephaiah ; 
it means "he who seeth or regardeth," being a 
participle of the same verb of which we have the 
past tense in Reaiah. 

The single son of Uzzi, grandson of Issachar, 
mentioned in the genealogy, was Izrahiah. This 
is, with very slight variation, the same as Zerahiah, 
the name of the son of another Uzzi, in the direct 
line of Aaron, through Eleazar. Zerah is the 



THE NA ME OF GOD. 177 

simple word which is the basis of these names, 
and is found as the name of several persons, the 
first of whom was a grandson of Esau, and the 
second one of the twin sons of Judah. It means 
the " rising'' of a light, or luminary, especially of 
the sun, with the notion of " breaking forth f and 
is therefore equivalent to u daybreak." With the 
addition of Jah, its signification is "the rising of 
Jehovah f or, with the verbal notion, as promi- 
nent in Izrahiah, " Jehovah arises," (as a light, or 
the sun.) The sentiment in the mind of him who 
first imposed the name must have been that which 
is fully developed in various passages of deep 
spiritual import in which the word occurs. ' ; The 
glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee. . . . Jehovah 
shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen 
upon thee," (Isa. lx. 1, 2.) " Unto you that fear 
my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with 
healing in his wings," (Mai iv. 2.) And thus 
Zecharias, in his inspired hymn of praise and pro- 
phecy, speaking of the promised birth of the Re- 
deemer, says, " The day-spring from on high hath 
visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness 
and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into 
the way of peace," (Luke L 78, 79.) These words 
form, in fact, a paraphrase of the name Zera- 
hiah, and indicate the nature of the blessing which 
it was intended to symbolize. That blessing was 

M 



178 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

some manifestation of God's presence and favour 
in a time of darkness and distress ; some heavenly 
light and comfort afforded to cheer the individual 
-believer in the way through the wilderness of this 
lower world to " the land that is very far off," the 
land of perpetual brightness and glory, where eveiy 
expectation of the children of God, as expressed 
by this name, shall be at last realized ; where 
" Jehovah shall be their everlasting light, and the 
days of their mourning shall be ended." It is 
deeply interesting to observe that ideas concerning 
the character of God, and His relation to His people, 
which it was reserved for prophets and psalmists 
to enunciate distinctly and fully, had yet existed in 
the minds of believers long before, and had found 
some expression in words. The language in which 
they spoke of God and His grace presented images, 
and even terms, which were already familiar to the 
godly and spiritual in Israel. Such names as these 
cannot but be regarded as watchwords, and key- 
words, of the faith and hope of the Old Testament 
saints. 

The four sons of Izrahiah had all of them names 
of which El or Jah formed part. The first was 
Michael — a name already discussed. The second 
was Obadiah. This name is well known to the 
readers of Scripture as that of the faithful and 
pious governor of the household of the wicked 



THE NAME OF GOD. 1 79 

king Ahab, and also as that of one of the minor 
prophets, whose special and apparently sole mis- 
sion was to pronounce God's judgments upon the 
Edomites. Several other persons of no distinction 
were thus named. The word means " servant of 
Jehovah/' and was intended, doubtless, in its 
original adoption, and perhaps sometimes in its 
subsequent selection, as a proper name, to mark 
the consecration of a child to the service of God. 
It turned out to be signally appropriate in the case 
of Ahab's high chamberlain. He feared Jehovah 
from his youth ; and his principal recorded action 
was one of good service to the cause of God in 
Israel, and one which exhibits him in the special 
character of a servant ministering to Jehovah in 
the daily supply of the wants of His oppressed and 
persecuted family. Joel, the name of Izrahiah's 
third son, is one which frequently occurs in the 
genealogies. Several persons so called have also 
other names. Of these are Joel, son of Samuel 
the prophet, otherwise Vashni ; and Joel, one of 
his progenitors, otherwise Shaul. The lists in 
which these variations are found are in close prox- 
imity in i.Chron. vi., and exhibit other diversities 
of the same kind, which are to be accounted for 
partly by the fact that persons occasionally had 
two distinct names, and partly by the similarity or 
identity in meaning of one name with another. 



i So NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

We shall have repeatedly to notice instances of 
each class. For example, in the list of David's 
chief warriors given in i Chron. xi., one called 
Joel is said to have been the brother of Nathan. 
The corresponding name in the list preserved in 
2 Sam. xxiii. is Igal, said to be the son of Nathan 
of Zobah. Nothing is more probable than that the 
father and brother of this man should have the 
same name. But the man himself had two names, 
the last mentioned of which, Igal, means " He 
(that is, God) redeems, or will redeem." This 
was the name of one of the spies sent by Moses 
into Canaan, the representative, on that occasion, 
of the tribe of Issachar. The only person of note 
called by the name Joel is the prophet, whose 
writings record nothing of his personal history but 
that he was the son of Pethuel, and who is not 
mentioned in the annals of Israel or Judah. The 
name signifies " Jehovah is God," and therefore is 
nearly equivalent to Elijah. 

The last son of this remarkably named family is 
Ishiah. The word means "Jehovah lendeth." 
This was also the name of a Korhite who joined 
David at Ziklag, written in our version Jesiah, 
(i Chron. xii. 6;) also, of one of the sons of Uzziel, 
uncle of Moses, and written in one place Jesiah, 
and in another Josiah, (i Chron. xxiii. 20, xxiv. 25.) 
This person is probably the same as the son of 



THE NAME OF GOD. 1 8 1 

Uzziel, who is called Elzaphan in Lev. x. 4, where 
Mishael and Elzaphan are directed by Moses to 
carry forth the dead bodies of Nadab and Abihu, 
their cousins, out of the camp. For in the Book 
of Chronicles, the brother of Ishiah is called 
Micah, a variation of Micaiah,* which means " who 
is like Jehovah'?" and is, therefore, of the same 
import with Mishael, "Who is what God is?" Here, 
again, we have instances of individuals bearing two 
names ; in one case, names distinct in meaning, — 
Ishiah, " Jehovah lendeth," and Elzaphan, " God 
hath protected \ " in the other, as has been shown, 
names of similar signification, and therefore, as the 
usage seems to have been, interchangeable. 

A very important truth is taught to all parents 
by this name Ishiah ; a truth which we cannot 
but believe was deeply impressed on the mind 
of the devout parent with whom the name 
originated. Children are a possession, and a trea- 
sure, which "the Lord lendeth." God has the 
supreme interest in them, and the right of owner- 
ship. We may not regard them as absolutely our 
own property; they are lent to us for a season, and 
are to be returned to Him who lent them. As a 
loan, they are for our benefit, to be made use of 

* This is clear from Judges xvii., where the person who 
is called Micaiah in verses I and 4 is in the same narrative 
afterwards called Micah. 



1 82 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

for the advancement of our own temporal and 
spiritual interests, and for the promotion of our 
efficiency as God's servants. As a loan, they are 
to be carefully watched over and preserved ; and 
we must labour for their cultivation and improve- 
ment, that when the Lord requires them at our 
hands " He may receive His own with usury. " In 
fact, they are a trust which we hold from God, and 
for God ; talents committed to our stewardship, 
of which we shall have to give an account to Him 
at the great reckoning-day. 

Of the early names in the family of Benjamin's 
son Becher, two — Eliezer and Abiah — have already 
been noticed and explained. The name of the 
second of Bechefs sons was Joash. This is also 
the name of the father of Gideon, who was of the 
tribe of Manasseh ; of a king of Judah, the son of 
Ahaziah ; and of a king of Israel, grandson of 
Jehu, and contemporary with his namesake of 
Judah. The word is written Jehoash, as well as 
in the abbreviated form Joash, in the Book of 
Kings, but uniformly Joash in the Book of Chron- 
icles. There was a Joash among the Benjamites 
who went over from Saul to David at Ziklag ; and 
another is mentioned among the descendants of 
Judah, but as having dominion in Moab, (i Chron. 
.xii. 3, iv. 22.) The meaning of the name is un- 
in. Ash is, of course, its distinctive syllable; 



THE NAME OF GOD. 18 



o 



Je, or Jeho, being the word Jehovah. Some inter- 
pret Ash by means of an Arabic word which signi- 
fies to "bestow," "give liberally;" and strengthen 
their opinion by showing that in Zech. vi 10, a 
person who is called Josiah, which is certainly 
equivalent to Joash, is apparently spoken of soon 
after (verse 14) under the name of Hen, which 
means " a free or gracious gift." Others connect 
Joash with the verb ydash, " to despair;" and 
suppose it to indicate utter helplessness, by the 
strong expression " Jehovah hath despaired." 
Others, again, derive it from cishci ; and, taking 
the Arabic sense of the word, render the name 
•'Jehovah hath healed;" which meaning they also 
ascribe to the name Josiah. But the primitive 
sense of the word as/id is "to found," and various 
names derived from it have the meaning " foun- 
dation." Hence there appears much reason for 
understanding Joash or Josiah to signify " Jehovah 
hath founded, laid the foundation, or established."' 
It is some corroboration of this etymology that 
the son (Jehoiakim), and grandson (Jehoiachim), of 
Josiah, king of Judah, had names which involve 
the same notion of establishment by Jehovah ; for 
it may be observed that names of similar significa- 
tion are repeatedly found in close proximity in a 
family. 

We come now to a name among those of the 



1 84 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

grandsons of Benjamin which is of a rare, perhaps 
unique formation. Elioenai is one of that small 
class of proper names of persons consisting, of 
more than two words. But it is further distin- 
guished among these by the peculiarity that the 
name of God is found in the middle, instead of its 
usual place, the beginning or ending of the word. 
Its first syllable is not the divine name El, but 
the preposition el, " to,* or " towards ; " the second, 
to, (Jo or yo,) is the name Jehovah; and the re- 
mainder of the word, enai, means " mine eyes." So 
that the name is the sentence, " Towards Jehovah 
are mine eyes." It is found at an unknown period 
among the posterity of Simeon, (i Chron. iv. 36 ;) 
at the time of David among the Levites, (1 Chron. 
xxvi. 33 ;) and afterwards as the name of several 
persons of different tribes who were born near the 
close of the Babylonish captivity. The use of the 
word as a proper name is at once apparent. It is 
the pious utterance of a parent's hope and trust in 
God. It marks probably a time of affliction, and 
the expectation of deliverance by Divine interposi- 
tion. If so, it was a suitable name for a child 
born during the bondage of Israel in Egypt, or 
during the seventy years' captivity in Babylon. It 
is certainly remarkable that it appears to have been 
a favourite name at the latter period, during which 
it most frequently occurs, (1 Chron. iii. 23 ; Ezra, 



THE NAME OF GOD. 185 

viii. 4, x. 22, 27; Neh. xii. 41 ;) and it records fully, 
and precisely, in its terms, the sentiment which is 
so pathetically expressed in the language of a 
psalm written most certainly at the same season of 
national affliction : " Unto thee lift I up mine 
eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, 
as the eyes of servants (look) unto the hand of 
their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto 
the hand of her mistress; so our eyes (wait) upon 
Jehovah our God, until that he have mercy upon 
us," (Ps. cxxiii. 1, 2.) 

The thought thus expanded is most natural to 
the spiritual mind, and therefore, as might be ex- 
pected, we meet with it in many other passages of 
Scripture, among the prayers of God's saints, 
and their professions of belief and confidence in 
Him in times of trouble. Thus David says in the 
twenty-fifth Psalm, " Mine eyes (are) ever toward 
Jehovah, for he shall pluck my feet out of the 
net f and again, probably during the persecution 
of Saul, " Mine eyes (are) unto thee, Jehovah 
Lord; in thee is my trust; leave not my soul desti- 
tute," (Ps. cxli. 8.) And Jehoshaphat, in his sore 
distress, when expecting an invasion of numerous 
and combined enemies, closed his prayer made 
before all the congregation, in the court of the 
temple, by casting himself and his people on God, 
with these words : " Our eyes (are) upon thee." 



1 86 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

But it is worthy of remembrance, as noted on a 
previous occasion, that expression had been given 
to this believing and loving reliance on God, in a 
name bestowed upon his child by an Israelitish 
parent in the land of Egypt, centuries before the 
age of David and Jehoshaphat, and long before 
any portion of the Divine word was committed to 
writing. 

Here, again, we have a satisfactory proof that the 
object of faith, and the nature of faith, have been 
in all ages essentially the same. The views which 
believers in the earliest age had of God, their 
affections and desires towards Him, their spiritual 
instincts and spiritual consciousness, and the very 
terms in which all these are expressed, harmonize 
and coincide with the experience of believers 
under subsequent dispensations, and successive 
and ampler revelations. The reason is, that He in 
whom they believe is " the same yesterday, to-day, 
and for ever;" and that it is " the same Spirit" 
who in the patriarchal, or Mosaic, or Gospel dis- 
pensation " worketh all in all." 

The name Elienai, which occurs in i Chron. 
viii. 20, among the descendants of Benjamin, is by 
some supposed to be a contraction for El-eli-enai, 
and so to mean, " towards God are mine eyes ;" 
being in fact the same as Elioenai, except that El 
ed instead of Jah in the middle of the word. 



THE NAME OF GOD. 187 

But it is more probable that its right sense is, " God 
(is) mine eyes f that is, " God is my guide, direct- 
ing and ordering my path.'* The figure is natural, 
and easily understood. Thus Moses said to his 
brother-in-law, Hobab, " Leave us not, I pray 
thee, forasmuch as thou knowest how we are to 
encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to 
us instead of eyes/' (Num. x. 31 ;) and Job, speak- 
ing of his works of charity and mercy, says, " I 
was eyes to the blind." The sentiment of this 
name is that expressed by David in the thirty- 
seventh Psalm : " The steps of a good man are 
ordered by the Lord f and in the eighteenth : 
" God maketh my way perfect." It is an acknow- 
ledgment of man's helplessness, and ignorance, and 
folly ; an assertion of the believers dependence 
upon the wisdom, providence, and grace of God ; 
an appeal to such a promise as that given to David : 
" I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way 
which thou shalt go; I will guide thee with mine 
eye." 

Another word of strange and uncouth sound in 
our ears, especially as forming the name of a fe- 
male, — the word Hazelelponi, or, more properly, 
Hatztzelelponi, — has also been supposed to in- 
clude the sacred name El, as one of its medial 
syllables. On this supposition, its meaning is, 
" Deliver (me), O God, (who) regardest me f or, 



1 88 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

" the deliverance of God who regardeth me." But 
it is preferable to derive the first part of the word 
from zeld, (rather, tsclel,) a a shade or shadow/' 
which occurs as the formative of a proper name 
in Bezaleel, as already noticed, and also in Zillah, 
or Zilthai, or Zillethai. It will then signify, " the 
shade turned towards me ;" doubtless implying a 
sense, or acknowledgment, or hope of Divine pro- 
tection, and embodying the idea conveyed by the 
assurance, " The Lord is thy shade upon thy right 
hand." 

One of the most signal examples of the class of 
proper names now under examination is Joshua, or 
Jehoshua. But it will more properly form a sub- 
ject for consideration in a subsequent chapter, as 
belonging to another very important class of names. 

Beside Joash, the father of Gideon, another per- 
son conspicuous in the early history of the people 
of Israel, as related in the Book of Judges, and 
belonging to the same family, received a name 
commencing with the equivalent of Jah or Jeho- 
vah. This was Jotham, youngest son of Gideon, 
author of the earliest fable on record, — the fable of 
the trees desiring a king. His name also, like that 
of his grandfather Joash, was afterwards borne by 
a king — Jotham, son of Uzziah, one of the good 
kings of Jiulah. The word signifies, w Jehovah is 
perfect. w The earlier Jotham was probably born 



THE NAME OF GOD. 1 89 

after his father's success against the Midianites, and 
before his lapse into partial idolatry. A name assert- 
ing the perfection of Jehovah was very naturally 
given to one of his sons by a man who had re- 
fused the offer of the hereditary sovereignty of 
Israel, saying, " I will not rule over you, neither 
shall my son rule over you : Jehovah shall rule over 
you,' ; and who had exerted his influence over the 
people, and that successfully, to prevent them from 
setting up the worship of Baal. The principle 
upon which he acted, both in rejecting the crown, 
and in maintaining the worship of Jehovah against 
that of false gods, was the same \ and it is pre- 
cisely expressed in the name which at the time he 
introduced into his family, " Jehovah is perfect." 

The second Jotham was born when his father, 
King Uzziah, was in the plenitude of his power and 
prosperity, in the forty-third year of his age and 
the twenty-seventh of his reign, at a period when it 
is recorded of him that " God helped him," that 
"he was marvellously helped," that "he sought 
Jehovah," " did all that was right in the sight of 
Jehovah," and therefore " God made him to pros- 
per." The name Jotham, chosen for his son and 
heir, in such circumstances of his position and 
character, was surely not in accidental or unde- 
signed connection with them. It certainly denotes 
the fact, and the faith, which were the secret of his 



190 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

successes, and may be understood as his devout re- 
cognition of the supreme and infinite excellence of 
the God whom he worshipped, in whom he trusted, 
.and to whom he ascribed all the glories and bless- 
ings of his reign. 

The name Jonathan, which means (i Jehovah hath 
given/' first occurs in the Book of Judges as that 
of the young Levite who conducted the idolatrous 
worship of the family of Micah, and subsequently 
that of the northern colony of the tribe of Dan, 
under the nominal acknowledgment of Jehovah ; 
a religion very much like that set up long after- 
wards by Jeroboam. The next person who is 
recorded as bearing the name is Jonathan, eldest 
son of Saul. Afterwards we read of Jonathan, son 
of Abiathar, the high priest in the time of David, and 
Jonathan the scribe, or secretary of state, in the 
reign of Zedekiah. There are many others of the 
name, but of no note in history. It is, however, a 
name of great distinction as that of the brave and 
pious son of Saul, the model of affectionate and 
disinterested friendship, and of filial duty and devo- 
tion. Born many years before his father was chosen 
as the first king of Israel, his name, though per- 
haps even by that time a common one, may have 
testified his fathers acceptance of his first-born as 
a gift from Jehovah. And his conduct throughout 
life proved that his name was most appropriately 



THE NAME OF GOD. 191 

bestowed. In the earlier portion of Saul's reign, 
both king and people had abundant reason repeat- 
edly to recur to the significance of the name 
Jonathan, in thankfulness for the national mercies 
vouchsafed through him. But this gift of the Lord, 
like many other of His choicest gifts, was under- 
valued and abused. His eldest son was given by 
the Lord to Saul as a powerful helper and defender 
in war against his enemies \ and in this character 
he probably was not slow to recognize him. But 
it would have been well for Saul had he recognized 
him as a gift from God in the character of coun- 
sellor and example. Jonathan himself was faithful 
to his name. However sensible of his parent's 
unworthiness and failure in duty to himself, and to 
his friend, and to his God, he never swerved from 
his allegiance to him as his king, or his obligations 
of succour and obedience to him as his father. He 
gave himself up wholly to his service all his days \ 
and in that service sacrificed his life, dying on 
Mount Gilboa fighting by his side. 

A Levite called Jonathan, in a list given in the 
Book of Xehemiah, (xii. n,) is also, in the same list, 
(ver. 22,. 23,) called Johanan. The latter name is 
nearly of the same import with the former, mean- 
ing " Jehovah hath graciously given. ;; This in- 
stance, by no means a solitary one, of interchange 
of synonymous words as the name of the same in- 



192 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

dividual, may be noticed as a proof of the practical 
ordinary recognition of the actual signification of 
proper names among the Israelites. Many persons 
had the name Johanan, which is the Joannes, or 
John, of the New Testament. The consideration 
of it is reserved for a subsequent division of our 
subject. 

Jehonadab, or Jonadab, is closely allied to these 
two names, the word nadab signifying " he hath 
given willingly." So that Jonadabwould be "(whom) 
Jehovah hath willingly or spontaneously given." 
Only two persons are mentioned by this name — 
one, the nephew of David, son of his brother Sham- 
mah, a crafty and wicked man, notorious for the 
assistance which his bad advice gave his cousin 
Amnion in the commission of a great crime ; the 
other, the son of Rechab, founder of the Hevite 
community called Rechabites, who lived in the 
time of Jehu, and was evidently considered by him 
a man eminently faithful to the true religion and 
worship of Jehovah. 

It is to be observed that the distinguishing words 
of which these three names last mentioned are com- 
posed — Nathan, Hanan, and Nadab — are them- 
selves found in frequent use as proper names ; and 
since they are verbs denoting respectively " he hath 
i," ''he hath graciously given/' " he hath will- 
ingly given," they are to be understood, as before 



THE NAME OF GOD, 1 93 

stated with regard to similar names, as having a 
tacit reference to God. 

Names compounded with the word Jehovah in 
its various forms, positions, and equivalents, are 
most common in the monarchical period of Jewish 
history. Many kings both of Judah and Israel 
had such names, which are often in strange con- 
trast with the characters of the persons who bore 
them, and of the fathers who, we may presume, 
selected and imposed them. 

After Abijah, already noticed, the next name 
among the kings of Judah which is thus composed 
is Jehoshaphat, " Jehovah hath judged, or is judge." 
The notion of judging, indicated by the word 
shaphat) may either be defence and deliverance of 
the righteous, or the punishment of the wicked, or 
the administration of justice as by a magistrate. It is 
probable that in this name these senses were under- 
stood as combined ; for when the prophet Joel is 
describing, in allegorical language, the vindication 
of the Church, and God's judgments upon her 
enemies, he says that Jehovah " will gather all 
nations, and bring them down into the valley of 
Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for 
his people ;" and again, " Let the heathen be 
wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehosha- 
phat, for there will / sit to judge all the heathen 
round about," (Joel iii. 2, 12.) In the latter pas- 

N 



194 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

sage Jehovah evidently represents Himself as act- 
ing in the capacity of a judge ; but in the former 
He certainly promises to appear for the rescue of 
His people and the punishment of the ungodly. In 
the allegorical description of the scene of these 
transactions, " the valley of Jehoshaphat," there is 
doubtless an allusion to the valley which in that 
king's time received the name of the valley of Bera- 
chah, or " blessing," in consequence of the service 
of thanksgiving there performed after a great vic- 
tory obtained by Jehoshaphat over the enemies of 
Judah. But obviously the name of the place is 
chosen, or given, as comprehensively descriptive of 
the nature of the events which the prophet is pre- 
dicting. Here, again, we have testimony to the 
importance attached to proper names, and to a 
prevalent habit of noticing their significance. 

The birth of Jehoshaphat took place six years 
after his father Asa succeeded to the throne of 
Judah. It was in the midst of a period of peace 
and prosperity, which God granted that pious king 
at the commencement of his reign; an interval 
between a great triumph of the armies of Judah 
over those of Israel, in the short reign of Asa's 
father, Abijah, and a still more remarkable victory, 
by which the invading hosts of the Ethiopians 
were repulsed, in the eleventh year of Asa. The 
name which Asa gave his son was perhaps an 



THE NAME OF GOD. 195 

acknowledgment and seal of God's vindication of 
the cause of Judah against rebellious and apostate 
Israel, and at the same time a testimony of that 
trust in the protecting power, and just government, 
of Jehovah, which he soon after so signally dis- 
played, w T hen in His name he went forth to en- 
counter the immense multitude of the Ethiopian 
army. 

Two other persons of considerable importance, 
though nothing is known of their conduct and char- 
acter, are mentioned by this name before it was 
borne by a king. One of them was a recorder, or 
annalist, under David and Solomon ; the other w r as 
one of the twelve commissariat officers appointed 
by Solomon to levy provisions for the royal house- 
hold from as many divisions of the whole king- 
dom. It was also the name of the father of Jehu, 
who became king of Israel ; and it occurs in 
the contracted form Josaphat, as that of one of 
David's chief warriors, and that of a priest in David's 
reign, who held the office of trumpeter when the 
ark was brought from the house of Obed-edom to 
Jerusalem. 

All the seven sons of King Jehoshaphat received 
consecrated names, five of which are compounds 
with Jah. His eldest son and successor was Je- 
horam. This name signifies " Jehovah is high," 
or probably " Jehovah is exalted," — that is, by 



196 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

some display of His " power," in which sense the 
word ram is repeatedly employed, as in Ps. xxi. 13, 
" Jehovah, be thou exalted in thine own strength." 
The same name was given also to a son of Ahab ; 
and it is remarkable that the two other children 
of this wicked king who are mentioned in Scrip- 
ture have names of a similar sacred character. 
One was Ahaziah, his eldest son and immediate 
successor ; the other, Athaliah, his daughter. Both 
these words end in Jah. Ahaziah means " Jeho- 
vah holdeth," or, " whom Jehovah hath laid hold 
of;" Ahaz, " to lay hold of," or " seize," being 
used here to indicate the act of succouring, as the 
corresponding Greek word does in Heb. xi. 16, 
where in the margin we read " of the seed of 
Abraham he takeih hold;" or perhaps the act of 
" securing for service," as when St Paul in another 
place speaks of " apprehending" (securing) that for 
which he also was " apprehended of (by) Christ 
Jesus," (Phil. hi. 12.) The meaning of Athaliah is 
uncertain, no such verb as athal being found in 
Hebrew ; but a kindred Arabic word gives the 
sense of " taking away," or " afflicting by removal," 
suggesting some bereavement at the time of the 
birth. As Ahab was the bad son of a bad father, 
and his wife Jezebel was a heathen princess, it is 
difficult to account for the fact of his children bear- 
ing names which recognize the Deity, the majesty, 



THE NAME OF GOD. 1 9 7 

and the providential action of Jehovah. But it 
must be remembered that such names were at this 
time usual, and would therefore in many cases be 
chosen for their children by those who had no 
devout or spiritual apprehension of their signifi- 
cance. They might also be imposed from motives 
of policy, as has been suggested in the case of 
Abijah, son of Jeroboam. Besides, these children 
of Ahab were almost certainly born before he be- 
came king • for his daughter, Athaliah, was married 
to Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, in 
the fourteenth or eighteenth year of his reign ; so 
that, at the time of their birth, he probably had not 
so completely apostatized from the religion and 
worship of Jehovah as in after-years. His religion 
at that time, we may suppose, was that of his father, 
Omri, and the other Israelitish princes, who followed 
the course of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, worship- 
ping Jehovah under the symbols of the golden calves 
of Bethel and Dan. 

The son of Jehoram, king of Judah, and his wife 
Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, received the name of 
his maternal uncle, Ahaziah, eldest son of Ahab. 
He is also called Jehoahaz, on a principle hereafter 
to be explained, and Azariah, on the principle al- 
ready noticed of the interchange of synonymous 
words as the names of the same individual ; Aza- 
riah being " Jehovah hath helped/' and therefore 



198 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

signifying the same as Ahaziah, "Jehovah hath 
laid hold of, (for succour.") These diversities prove 
that his name was used, not as a mere appellative, 
but with a recognition of its actual meaning. Nei- 
ther this man, however, nor his uncle afforded an 
exemplification of its meaning in character or ex- 
perience. They were both bad kings — men who 
put no trust in the help of Jehovah, the uncle being 
a devotee of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, and the 
nephew " walking in the way of the house of Ahab;" 
and Jehovah forsook them, and refused them His 
help — the elder prince dying in the second year of 
his reign by an accidental fall from an upper cham- 
ber ; and the younger in the first year of his reign, 
by the command of Jehu, who had just before with 
his own hand slain his uncle Jehoram, (or Joram,) 
second son of Ahab and Jezebel, successor of his 
brother Ahaziah. It is distinctly asserted in the 
Book of Chronicles (2 Chron. xxii. 7) that the de- 
struction of Ahaziah, king of Judah, "was of God 
by coming to Joram." 

Jehoram had another child, a daughter, whose 
mother was probably the queen Athaliah, of a very 
different character from that of her parents and 
brother, and far more appropriately bearing a name 
which implies belief and trust in Jehovah. She was 
called Jehosheba, (or, in the Book of Chronicles, 
Jchoshabeath,) "Jehovah's oath," or "Jehovah is 



THE NA ME OF GOD. 199 

her oath" — a name referring to some solemn promise 
of God, or representing Jehovah as the Being to 
whom vows are to be offered, or to whom alone 
appeals are to be made, as in the frequent phrase 
" Swear by His name." In the former sense, there 
may be in this name allusion to the promise of 
God made to David of a succession of kings de- 
scending from himself; although, as given to a 
daughter, who was probably the eldest child of an 
heir-apparent, it would appear rather a record of 
the promise than a memorial of its fulfilment, an 
expression rather of hope than thanksgiving. But 
this Jehosheba really did prove an instrument in 
the Lord's hand of fulfilling His promise of pre- 
serving a seed to David, and securing the royal 
seat to his offspring alone throughout all genera- 
tions, (2 Kings viii. 19.) For when, on occasion 
of the death of her brother Ahaziah, his wicked 
mother, Jezebel's daughter, Athaliah, seized on the 
throne, and destroyed all the males of the royal 
family, she contrived to steal away Ahaziah's young- 
est son, Jehoash, then an infant of a year old, and 
to conceal him for six years in the precincts of the 
temple, until a favourable time arrived for pro- 
ducing him to the people, and declaring him king. 
She effected this remarkable concealment, and the 
restoration of her nephew to his royal rights, by 
means of her husband, Jehoiada, the high priest, 



200 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

who became the protector of the infant king, and 
afterwards his chief counsellor and minister. His 
name signifies, " Jehovah knoweth," or " whom Je- 
hovah knoweth or regardeth j" the sense in which 
the word is used in such expressions as " Jehovah 
knoweth the way of the righteous." 

It is worthy of notice that the slaughter of her 
grandsons by Athaliah was the repetition of a 
crime which had been perpetrated six years before, 
when her husband Jehoram, on succeeding his 
father Jehoshaphat, put to death all his six 
brethren. Remembering that Jehoram is said to 
have " walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as 
did the house of Ahab, for the daughter of Ahab 
was his wife," (2 Kings viii. 18 ;) and also that 
his son Ahaziah's evil character and conduct are 
ascribed to the influence of his mother, who " was 
his counsellor to do wickedly," (2 Chron. xxii. 4,) 
it will appear almost certain that the former of 
these two deeds of unnatural murder was by her 
instigation, as the latter was her own sole act. So 
she proved herself a true daughter of Jezebel, not 
only as inheriting her sanguinary disposition, and 
imitating her murderous practices, but in stirring 
up her husband to atrocious acts of violence and 
blood. 

U, as there seems reason to believe, Jehoshcba 
wa.-) lull sister of Ahaziah, and therefore daughter 



THE NAME OF GOD. 201 

of Athaliah as well as Jehoram, we can hardly con- 
ceive a situation more terrible than hers for a 
woman evidently of tender and pious feelings, and 
deeply sensible of the claims of duty. She had to 
witness the desperate wickedness and cruelty of 
her mother in the slaughter of her brother's chil- 
dren, and then for six years to live under her rule, 
regarding her as an usurper and a tyrant ; all the 
time nurturing, at her own extreme peril, the right- 
ful heir to the crown, who could only succeed to 
his inheritance by Athalialrs deposition and pun- 
ishment. And she must have been a consenting 
party to the great rising of the Levites, magis- 
trates, and people, planned by her husband the 
high priest, the issue of which, if successful, she 
could not but be aware must be, as it actually was, 
her mother's death by military execution. It is 
nearly a parallel case to the popular and often 
dramatized legend of the Greeks, in which a queen 
(Clytemnestra) kills her husband (Agamemnon,) and 
with her paramour usurps the throne of her infant 
son Orestes, who is protected by his sister Electra, 
and sent to a foreign land. The son returns when 
grown up, and plots with his sister, and accom- 
plishes, the destruction of their mother, in retribu- 
tion for the murder of their father. The mother's 
death is represented as a deed of just vengeance, 
and as undertaken in accordance with Divine 



202 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

oracles, but yet as a deed so awful and revolting 
as to require expiation. The greatest of French 
dramatic poets, Racine, has represented the story 
of Athaliah also in a tragedy, entitled " Athalie," 
which is one of the finest productions of his 
muse. 

Jehu, the chosen instrument for the execution 
of God's judgments upon the house of Aliab, has 
a name the etymology of which is doubtful \ but 
the opinions of most Hebrew scholars who have 
considered the subject are in favour of its being 
compounded of the Divine name, or bearing refer- 
ence to it. The syllable hn is the pronoun he. 
The first syllable is either an abbreviation of the 
word yehi, " he shall be," or of Jah.. Some would 
render the word merely "he shall live ;" and in this 
sense it would simply express the hope of parents, 
or a promise given to them, that this particular 
child, perhaps as distinguished from others of the 
family, should live to maturity. But, on the other 
hand, the first letter, or syllable, may well be un- 
derstood to have the sense so frequently and cer- 
tainly attached to it in other names, so that the 
word shall stand for " Jehovah (is) He," which is 
equivalent to an assertion of the personality of 
Jehovah, and His sole claim to the character of 
God. Or, as in the name Abihu, " my father is 
Ji< . the pronoun hu may denote God \ and then, 



THE NAME OF GOD. 203 

taking the first syllable as a verb, the name will 
mean " God is," or " God shall be/' and becomes 
a declaration of the necessary and eternal existence 
of God. The pronoun hu is also repeatedly used 
to represent, according to the Hebrew idiom, the 
unchangeableness of Jehovah. Thus, in Ps. xliv. 
5, " Thou (art) my king, O God," is, " Thou He," 
/>., u Thou, ever the same." In Ps. cii. 27, 
" Thou (art) the same " is in Hebrew, " Thou (art) 
He ; " and the literal rendering conveys this mean- 
ing in English in Isa. xliii. 13, " Before the day 
(was) I (am) He." Hence, the name Jehu may 
signify " He is, or shall be, the same;" "He re- 
mains unchangeable ;" it being well understood that 
God is the subject of the verb, that is, the Being 
about whom the proposition is made. Nothing 
can be inferred with certainty from this name, or 
from the fact that Jehu's grandfather had the 
name Jehoshaphat, concerning the religious char- 
acter of the family of Jehu. Yet the probability 
is great that a person w r ould be chosen by God, as 
the substitute on the throne of Israel for the apos- 
tate and idolatrous Ahab, who had been brought 
up in the fear and worship of Jehovah, and whose 
ancestors for several preceding generations had 
maintained the true religion. If so, that ".zeal for 
Jehovah" which Jehu somewhat vain-gloriously 
desired Jehonadab to witness, and which we are 



204 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

too sure did not arise from personal piety, may 
have been due to the traditions of his family, and 
his early education, as well as to the call he had 
received in the name of Jehovah to assume the 
kingdom. 

Among the many kings of Judah who bore the 
sacred name, Uzziah is to be noticed as one of the 
class already referred to, who are known by two 
names. In the Book of Chronicles he is uniformly 
called Uzziah, but in the Book of Kings (2 Kings 
xiv. 21) he is introduced by the name Azariah, 
which is applied to him throughout the history of 
his reign. Afterwards he is three times spoken of 
as Uzziah ; and in the prophecy of Isaiah he is 
called Uzziah only. Now, Uzziah means " strength 
of Jehovah/' and Azariah, " Jehovah hath helped." 
The words are not to be understood as two dif- 
ferent names of the same person, but as equiva- 
lents for each other — the same name — as expressing 
substantially the same idea, not by actually but 
virtually synonymous terms. Thus, as we have 
seen, the person usually called Ahaziah, "whom 
Jehovah hath taken hold of," is once named 
Azariah, the grammatical relation of which names 
to each other, both being constructed with a verb, 
is even closer than that of Uzziah and Azariah. 
But an exact parallel, a perfect proof of the con- 
vertibility of these two latter words as a name, is 



THE NAME OF GOD. 205 

found in 1 Chron. xxv. 4, 18, where the same per- 
son is called Uzziel, "strength of God/' and 
Azareei, "God hath helped/' Reference has 
already been made to two passages in 2 Chron. 
xxvi., — a chapter which contains a full and carefully 
written account of the long reign of this king, — as 
either allusions to his name Azariah, or as indi- 
cating the origin of its use. It is said (ver. 7) 
that " God helped him against the Philistines and 
against the Arabians ;" and in ver. 15 the story of 
his greatness and his prosperity is concluded by the 
remark, " he was marvellously helped till he was 
strong." The word here rendered " helped" is 
that which in his name we write Azar, and it cer- 
tainly seems to be employed with peculiar em- 
phasis. But it will be observed that these expres- 
sions occur in that history of this king in which he 
is never once called by the name Azariah. It is a 
singular circumstance that the name of a high 
priest who lived in his reign was also Azariah. 
This was the high priest who so boldly withstood 
the king when he attempted to intrude into the 
sacerdotal office by entering the temple to burn 
incense. The names of Uzziah's parents are also 
remarkable for their similarity in meaning to his 
own and to each other, though in them the name 
Jah is compounded with different words. In 
Amaziah, his father's name, the word Amaz or 



206 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

Amatz signifies " is strong," or " hath strength ; w 
and in Jecoliah, his mother's name, Jecol signifies 
" is powerful," or " hath prevailed." 

The name Hezekiah is given with several vari- 
ations. It is first found in the form Hizkiahu, 
(Chizqiahu,) as 2 Kings xvi. 20, and changes 
to Hizkiah (Chizqiyah) in xviii. 1. These two 
forms are used indifferently. And indeed the 
terminations of most of the names of frequent 
occurrence in which Jehovah is the last word in 
the compound vary between iah and iaha. This 
name, however, also appears occasionally in the 
forms Jehizkiahu, (Yechizqiyahu,) as in 2 Kings 
xx. 10, Isa. i. 1, and Jehizkiah, (Yechizqiyah,) as 
in Hos. i. 1, Micah i. 1. This change is from a 
noun to the corresponding verb ; Hizkiah meaning 
" strength of Jehovah," and Jehizkiah " (whom) 
Jehovah shall strengthen/' Clearly, from the 
manner in which they are employed, these are not 
two names, but mere varieties of the same name. 
Their usage corroborates the statement recently 
made, that Uzziah and Azariah are really the same 
name, according to Hebrew modes of thought and 
expression in regard to proper names. The signi- 
fication rather than the precise form of a word 
made it a person's name ; and, within certain 
limits, the form might be changed if the significa- 
tion remained unchanged, or even when it was 



THE NAME OF GOD, 207 

slightly diversified, as in the above instances of the 
substitution of the verbal for the substantive notion.* 
The name of the last good king of Judah, Josiah, 
has already been noticed as equivalent to Joash, 
and most probably meaning " Jehovah founds, or 
establishes." The word is Yoshiyahu, or Yoshi- 
yah, in which the first part is Yoshe, from AsM, a 
root not in use, but in affinity with one which cer- 
tainly means "to found/*' This prince was born 
six years before the close of the reign of his grand- 
father, Manasseh, and therefore at the period of 
Manasseh's restoration to his kingdom, and repent- 
ance, and reformation of life. The name of the 
son of the heir-apparent, we may well suppose, 
would be given under the influence of the reigning 
sovereign, especially as Amon, Josiah' s father, was 
but sixteen years old at the time of his birth. And 
so this name may represent Manasseh's prayer and 
hope that Jehovah would establish the state of 
Judah, and the dominion of the family of David, 
both of which his previous idolatry and persecu- 
tions had for a time overthrown. A similar rea- 
sonable account may be given of the origin of the 
name, if we attach to it the Arabic sense of its 
root, "to heal." Jehovah was the only healer of 
the weakness, and decay, into which the sin of 
monarch and people had brought the kingdom of 
* Plato, Cratylus, i. 394. 



2o8 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

Judah. In either sense, Josiah justified the hope 
expressed by his name. By him the Lord restored 
the prosperity of the country, and the true religion. 
The characteristics of his reign, indeed, were 
restoration and re-establishment, although the 
benefit was only temporary, lasting but for his 
time, as he had been warned by a Divine oracle. 
His fond hope, however, that his kingdom might 
continue, seems to have found expression in the 
name of his eldest son, Eliakim, afterwards called 
Jehoiakim, and his grandson, Jehoiachin, who, 
according to the statement of the Book of Kings, 
was born during the lifetime of his grandfather. 
The words both mean, " Jehovah establishes, or 
confirms," though compounded of different verbs ; 
yaqim, the component verb of Jehoiachim, indi- 
cating establishment as a "setting up -" and ydkin, 
the corresponding part of Jehoiachin, presenting 
rather the notion of a fixed and steady settlement. 
Nothing, however, could be a greater contradiction 
to the sentiment or expectation involved in these 
names, than the state of things under the princes 
who bore them. Their reigns were distinguished 
by disorder and disaster, by the breaking up and 
rapidly progressing ruin of the dynasty of David, 
and that as a punishment inflicted on the royal 
house, and the whole country, by the hand of 
Jehovah. 



THE NAME OF GOD. 209 

The family of Josiah is remarkable for the in- 
stances it affords of variation and actual change of 
name. Jehoiachin is called in some places Je- 
coniah, the Divine name being in the first form 
at the beginning, in the second at the end of the 
word. He is also named Coniah in three passages 
of the Book of the prophet Jeremiah. Rabbinical 
commentators have imagined that the word is 
reduced by way of contempt, and that the omis- 
sion of the first syllable symbolises loss of dignity. 
This notion probably originated in the circum- 
stance that the omitted letter, or syllable, is found 
in the name Jehovah. But as it is here only the 
sign of the third person singular in a certain tense, 
and as the name Jah is still preserved in the latter 
part of the word, there seems no ground for this 
mystical explanation. The same letter is dropped 
out of the word Joiakim, (yoyakim,) a contraction 
of Jehoiakim, and so forms the name Jokim, (Neh. 
xii. 10; 1 Chron. iv. 22;) and thus the name 
Jorim (Luke hi. 29) is formed from Joiarim; so 
that the omission is most naturally to be accounted 
for as a vernacular or conventional abbreviation, 
common to such names. 

Jehoahaz, second son of Josiah, and his im- 
mediate successor, — the meaning of whose name, 
" Jehovah lays hold of, or sustains," has already 
been discussed — is also called Shallum. These 

O 



210 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

are two quite distinct names, Shallum signifying 
" retribution, or recompense." Some suppose 
that he assumed the former and more dignified 
name on ascending the throne. The name of the 
elder brother, Eliakim, was changed to Jehoiakim 
by Pharaoh Necho, when he advanced him to the 
throne. The alteration of the name was probably 
an assertion of the rights of a superior, an intima- 
tion that Pharaoh was lord paramount, and the 
king of Judah a vassal or tributary sovereign. But 
it consisted merely in the substitution of Jehovah 
(Jah) for El (God) in the name. When, however, 
twelve years afterwards, Nebuchadnezzar made 
the youngest son of Josiah king in place of his 
nephew, Jehoiachin, he completely changed his 
name, calling him Zedekiah, " justice of Jehovah," 
instead of Mattaniah, " gift of Jehovah." Whether 
the name was chosen by the heathen prince with 
any regard to its signification, is very doubtful. 
Some think it was his intention, in imposing it, 
to keep the Jewish monarch and the people in 
mind of the righteous judgment of their own God 
upon the former kings, who had proved rebellious 
against their liege lord the king of Babylon. But 
it is far from probable that nothing but the change 
of name is due to the superior sovereign in both 
these instances, and that the selection of the new 
name was permitted to the person who was to bear 



THE NAME OF GOD. 2 1 1 

it. Whatever influenced the choice of the name 
of the last king of Judah, Zedekiah, it became 
singularly appropriate, as marking the true char- 
acter of the great event of his reign, — the downfall 
of the royal house of David, involved in the uni- 
versal ruin of the country. This catastrophe was 
truly due to the righteousness, or justice of God. 
It was the fulfilment of His threatenings, uttered 
by a long series of prophets, and it was the execu- 
tion of the sentence of His holy law r upon a " dis- 
obedient and gainsaying people." 

To the consideration of the regal names of the 
class now under review may suitably be added 
that of the next personage possessing a name of 
this character who appears as a ruler in Israel. 
This is remarkably distinguished from the last. It 
is Nehemiah, " the consolation of Jehovah." Its 
meaning, as a name given to a child born during 
the Babylonish captivity, may be purely domestic. 
The birth of a child to parents in exile and bond- 
age may have been accepted by them as a consola- 
tion from the Lord. But it is equally probable 
that they had in view the promise of return and 
restoration, which was at that time " the consola- 
tion of Israel," as was in after-times the expectation 
of the approaching advent of the Messiah. This 
child was indeed destined to be a " consolation 
from Jehovah " to his afflicted fellow-countrymen, 



212 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

while struggling with the formidable difficulties 
and opposition which assailed them on their return 
to Judah, and prevented them so long from accom- 
plishing the word of God in rebuilding their city 
and temple. In him the Lord gave them the 
consolation of protection against enemies, of good 
government, of encouragement and wise counsel, 
of ecclesiastical, civil, social, and personal refor- 
mation, of the re-establishment of Divine ordi- 
nances and the authority of the Divine Word, and 
of the example of one in the highest place who 
sought the good of God's people, not his own 
pleasure or aggrandizement, and who sustained a 
life of holiness and usefulness, by faith and prayer. 
Next to the kings and rulers in dignity and influ- 
ence, and above them in the importance of their 
office, were the prophets of the Old Testament dis- 
pensation. We have seen that one of these at 
least, Elijah, the great prophet of Israel, had a 
name which expressed the nature of his testimony 
and mission. The same is true of the most emi- 
nent of the prophets of Judah, to whom we owe so 
large and valuable a portion of the historical record, 
and of the " word of prophecy." The name Isaiah 
means " salvation of Jehovah ;" and this might 
well form the title of his book, as well as the name 
of the author. He was sent to announce, on vari- 
ous occasions, to Judah, and to the house of David, 



THE NAME OF GOD. 2 1 3 

deliverance from enemies, and from national cala- 
mities, by the interposition of God : and he was 
the chosen herald of the great redemption, the sal- 
vation of the true Israel, promised, and in the 
fulness of time granted, and personally effected, by 
Jehovah. This is the grand theme of his predic- 
tions, and of his sublime poetry; and the very 
term "salvation" is more frequently employed by 
him than by any other inspired author of the Old 
Testament writings. In numerous passages it is 
clearly associated with the Divine name, and em- 
phatically presented as the salvation of God — of 
Jehovah. He is often, and very justly, spoken of 
as u the evangelical prophet," the prophet of the 
gospel, or whose prophecy is the gospel ; and his 
actual name is equivalent to this honourable 
appellation. This remarkable coincidence forces 
itself upon our attention, and we cannot but ob- 
serve that it does not stand alone : it is not the 
single, though perhaps the most striking, instance 
of the kind. The name Elisha, almost synony- 
mous with it, as well as Elijah, has a similar con- 
nexion with the peculiar mission of the personage 
to whom it belonged. Indications of the proba- 
bility of a Divine direction in the choice of such 
names have been noticed in our discussion of 
them ; to which we may add the fact that the 
prophet Isaiah himself gave names, by God's com- 



214 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

mand, to his own two children, which were intended 
to be significant of God's dealings with His people ; 
and that, in allusion to this, he uttered the re- 
markable declaration, " Behold I, and the children 
'whom the Lord hath given me, are for signs and 
for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts," 
(Isa. viii. 18.) If his children were "signs" by 
means of their names — and we know of no other 
circumstance relating to them which was of the 
nature of a sign — then might he also, by his name, 
as well as by his words and actions, be a continual 
testimony to Israel from the " Lord of hosts which 
dwelleth in Mount Zion " of temporal deliverance, 
and of the " great salvation." 

Several other persons are mentioned by this 
name, which in each case is written in our version 
Jeshaiah, a word much nearer to the true pro- 
nunciation of the prophet's name than Isaiah. 

The prophet Jeremiah, in giving an account 
of his commission, states that the Lord said to 
him, " Before thou earnest forth of the womb I 
sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto 
the nations." Such a declaration renders it not 
impossible that God, who, before his birth, had 
designated him for a peculiar office, and a peculiar 
character in that office, guided his parents to the 
selection of an appropriate name. The meaning 
of his name is not, indeed, agreed upon by etymo- 



THE NAME OF GOD. 2 1 5 

logists ; but the two most approved interpretations 
certainly accord with the work and position as- 
signed him. The verb of which the first two 
syllables of the word Jeremiah, or Irme-yah, are a 
tense form, means, usually, " to throw or cast/' " to 
shoot," or "launch forth" — as an arrow from a 
bow. The name so derived will signify " (whom) 
Jehovah launches forth ;" shoots, as His arrow, or 
as His lightning, among the nations, declaring the 
truth, and denouncing His vengeance. We are re- 
minded of the figure which Isaiah applies to a 
greater than himself or Jeremiah, when he in- 
troduces Him as speaking of His ordination to 
His mission from His birth: "Jehovah hath called 
me from the womb, .... and made me a 
polished shaft ; in his quiver hath he hid me," 
(Isa. xlix. 1, 2.) This notion of the name corre- 
sponds with the declaration made to him by Jehovah 
in reply to his disparagement of himself on acconnt 
of his youth : " Thou shalt go to all that I shall 
send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou 
shalt speak." And it is fully sustained by the 
variety and the nature of the oracular messages 
delivered by him, in the name of Jehovah, to the 
people and princes, priests and prophets, of his 
own land, and to the sovereigns of adjacent and 
distant countries, (Jer. i. 2, 3, vii. 2, xi. 6, xix. 1-3, 
xx. 3, xxii. i, xxv. i, 2, 17, 26, xxvi. 1, 2, xxvii. 



216 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

2, 3, xxviii. 15, xxix. 1, xxxvi. 2, xlii. 8, xliv. 1, 
xlvi. 41.) But the word in composition with 
Jehovah in this name has also the sense,, de- 
rived from that just explained, of " set, place, or 
appoint." Hence, some would render the name 
"whom Jehovah appoints," that is, "ordains or 
consecrates," to a special and important service. 
And this signification also receives some support 
from the language of the prophet's original com- 
mission, "See, I have this day set thee over the 
nations, to root out and to pull down, and to de- 
stroy and to throw down, to build and to plant." 
It does not, however, express so peculiar a charac- 
teristic of the prophet's ministry as the former 
derivation ; which, for other reasons also, is more 
probably correct. 

In connection with the passages just referred to, 
as containing possibly some allusions to the call of 
the prophet by name from his birth, may be ob- 
served a remarkable example of the practice of 
converting names into emblems by means of their 
etymologies. The first vision presented to Jere- 
miah is thus described : — "The word of the Lord 
came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? 
And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then 
said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen, for I 
will hasten my word to perform it." The connec- 
tion between the object seen by the prophet and the 



THE NA ME OF GOD. 217 

oracular declaration evidently founded upon it, is 
by no means obvious to the reader of the English 
version. But the Hebrew word for an almond 
tree is sMqcd, and the word rendered " hasten" is 
skcqedy "to watch, or be wakeful," and hence 
" to be early, or to hasten,*' — the tree deriving its 
name from its haste, or earliness, in putting forth its 
blossoms. It is as if the English name for this tree 
were "the hastener." Hence the appropriateness of 
the symbol to express the Divine intention. The 
tree is chosen for that purpose, not merely on ac- 
count of its peculiar habit, but because it bore a 
name which indicated it, and without which its 
typical significance would have been most obscure, 
if not absolutely unintelligible. 

There is a large class of names ending in i and 
ai, most of which are supposed by some Hebrew 
etymologists to involve the Divine name, the last 
syllable, or letter, being understood as an abbrevia- 
tion of Jah. The fact seems established in the 
case of some which have equivalents in which the 
termination Jah is fully expressed. Thus Helkai, 
or Hilkai, is the same with Hilkiah, " Jehovah is 
my portion;" Phalti, or Pulti, with Pelatiah, "de- 
liverance of Jehovah \ " Maasai, with the common 
name Maaseiah, "work of Jehovah." But many 
names ending in i are (as has been explained in 
chap, hi.) merely denominatives, the termination 



218 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

having the same meaning as ite; and sometimes 
i and ai are the pronominal forms of the first 
person singular and plural respectively, and mean 
" my ;" or a word ending in ti or tlii may be the 
first person singular of a verb, as in the names 
Mallothi, "I spoke/' Romamti-ezer, "I have raised 
help ;" Giddalti, " I extol Him," i.e., God. 

The word Adon, Lord, enters into the com- 
position of a few words found in the Old Testa- 
ment. But it is doubtful whether it has in any 
a signification different from that of a Lord in 
the ordinary sense — a sense w r hich can of course 
be applied to God as well as man. In Adoni- 
Bezek, and Adonizedek, names of heathen kings, 
it evidently means simply " Lord." Adonijah, the 
name of the second rebellious son of David, must 
mean, "Jehovah (is) Lord." This name is sub- 
stituted for Adonikam at Neh. x. 16, in one of the 
lists of the heads of clans, or families, given in 
Ezra and Nehemiah, (compare Ezra ii. 13, viii. 
13 ; Neh. x. 17.) Hence Adonikam must be con- 
sidered as its equivalent. Kavi, or qam, may 
mean " hath arisen," or " one who riseth (against 
another"), ie., an enemy. So that Adonikam will 
be " the Lord hath arisen (to save)," or, " Lord of 
the enemy : " the former sense is a nearer approxi- 
mation than the latter to Adonijah, " Jehovah is 
Lord." The name Azrikam is of similar import, and 



THE NAME OF GOD. 219 

is either "help hath arisen/'' i.e., God hath arisen, 
or " help (against) the enemy.'*' Tob-Adonijah, 
" good is the Lord Jehovah/ 3 is a name of one of the 
teaching priests sent out by Jehoshaphat. and is to 
be compared with Tobiah, " good is Jehovah." The 
only remaining name of the class, Adoniram, is pro- 
bably not " Adonai is exalted/'' as if compounded 
of the word Adonai, which is only used of God ; but 
either Adon (Adoni) is applied to God in its 
lower sense, as in Adonijah, or it may bear refer- 
ence to the king, the human lord and sovereign to 
whom the parent of the child thus named owed 
allegiance, and may commemorate some great 
accession to his power, or dignity, or glory. 

Two persons are recorded as having names com- 
pounded with the Divine title Shaddai. They were 
both fathers of men who were at the head of their 
respective tribes when numbered by Moses and 
Aaron in the wilderness. The first was Zuri- 
shaddai, father of Sneiumiel, the captain of the 
host of Simeon. His name signifies "my rock is 
the Almighty.'"' The word tzur y "'rock," is com- 
pounded with El in Zuriel, "my rock is God," the 
name of the chief of the Levitical family of Merari, 
and in Elizur, "'[to whom] God is a rock," the 
name of the captain of the host of Reuben. 
Pedahzur also occurs at the same period, as the 
name of the father of Gamaliel, captain of Mar 



220 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

nasseh. The interpretation of this name is, " the 
Rock hath delivered f " the Rock" evidently mean- 
ing God. In all these names we have the senti- 
ment so conspicuous in the song of Moses, in 
which Jehovah is repeatedly spoken of under the 
figure of a Rock — " the Rock of Israel's salvation," 
" the Rdck that begat thee," " our Rock," as op- 
posed to the "rock," or deity, of the enemies of 
the people of God, (Deut. xxxii. 4, 15, 18, 30, 31, 
37.) No term applied to God is more familiar to 
the devout and spiritually-minded readers of the 
Psalms. It is found in the most encouraging and 
consolatory of these divine compositions, and com- 
mends itself to the intelligence of all, as conveying 
a graphic and comprehensive idea of the character 
of God, as the protection, shelter, and security of 
His people. It will be seen by reference to the 
margin of our Bibles that the word is used for 
God more frequently than appears in our version, 
which sometimes substitutes for it such words as 
"strength," "strong," or "mighty one." The 
most remarkable instance of this is in the well- 
known passage in Isaiah, " Trust ye in the Lord 
for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting 
strength" Spiritual instinct has rescued from its 
secondary position in the margin the literal render- 
ing of the prophet's language, " The Lord Jehovah 
is \\\^Roc7zof Ages? fully appreciating its superiority 



THE NAME OF GOD. 221 

in power and fulness to the paraphrase in the 
authorized text; and, under the same hallowed 
influence which dictated the well-known strains of 
a Christian psalmist, legitimately appropriates the 
title to Him who is now revealed to the Israel of 
God as the Rock of our Salvation. 

It has been thought that the names in which the 
word tznr, " rock," is a distinguishing element, ori- 
ginated in the miracle of the supply of water from 
the rock, which was wrought soon after the com- 
mencement of the sojourn in the wilderness, nearly 
a year before the enumeration, or census, took place, 
which gave occasion to the mention of these names, 
recorded in the first chapters of the Book of Num- 
bers. But, on this supposition, these names must 
have been assumed by persons who were men of 
mature and even advanced age at the time of the 
occurrence of the event to which they are referred ; 
for two of them are fathers of captains of the hosts 
of their respective tribes. It is not likely that 
such a change of names should have taken place 
in four instances without some allusion being made, 
in one or other of them, to the existence of a 
second or former name. But no such allusion is 
found. The two, if not three, eldest of the persons 
possessing these names must have been born at 
the time of the most severe and oppressive perse- 
cution of the Israelites by the Egyptians, being, as 



222 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

fathers of the heads of tribes, probably about the 
same age as Moses and Aaron. Their names, 
then, may be taken as expressions of the confi- 
dence which pious parents among the Israelites felt 
in the protection of Him whom they worshipped 
as the only true God, (i?/,)the Almighty, (Shaddai,) 
and in His sure fidelity to His word of promise, 
notwithstanding the peculiar dangers to which the 
whole generation then coming into existence was 
exposed. And we have here again an example of 
the early employment of pious sentiments and ex- 
pressions, and the existence of a current religious 
phraseology, identical with those afterwards de- 
veloped in sacred compositions, and by means of 
them rendered familiar to the Church of a later, 
and of every succeeding age. 

The name Ammishaddai denotes " people of the 
Almighty." The word Ammi will be recognized, 
together with its interpretation, as both occurring 
in a very remarkable passage of the prophecy of 
Hosea, referred to and explained by St Paul in the 
ninth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. On 
the birth of the prophet's second son, God said to 
him, " Call his name Lo-Ammi ; for ye are not my 
people, and I will not be your God." Yet is this 
language of rejection closely followed by that of 
reconciliation and promise : " It shall come to 
that in the place where it was said unto them, 



THE NAME OF GOD. 223 

Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto 
them, Ye are the sons of the living God." Almost 
immediately afterwards, the words of the Divine 
oracle are, " Say ye unto your brethren Ammi," 
(Hos. ii. 1 j) that is, as explained in the conclusion 
of the address thus commenced, " I will say to 
(them which were) not my people, (or, to Lo- 
Ammi,) Thou art my people, (Ammi.)" In the 
compound Ammi-Shaddai the pronoun "my" is 
not expressed, though it may seem to be, by the 
second syllable of Ammi, as in the names Ammi 
and Lo-Ammi ; the z, as in Zurishaddai, and Zu- 
riel, and abundance of similar cases, being a mere 
connecting form uniting the two component parts 
of the word. But the deep significance of the 
name is clearly apparent by comparison of it with 
these mystical names given by Divine command at 
a later age, and with a view to ages still in a dis- 
tant future. As the name Ammi, " my people," 
expressed God's recognition of Israel's filial rela- 
tion to Himself, and implied a promise of exceed- 
ing great and precious blessings consequent upon 
that relation, so we have reason to believe the 
name Ammi-Shaddai, " people of the Almighty," 
expressed an appeal on the part of some pious Is- 
raelite to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
under the name by which especially He had re- 
vealed Himself to them, putting Him in mind of 



224 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

the relation to Himself of their oppressed and 
down-trodden descendants. It was a plea urging 
the fulfilment of the promise and the covenant by 
. which God had bound Himself to " the seed of 
Abraham his friend;" and it was, perhaps, also a 
profession of faith and trust in God, both as the God 
of Israel, and as God Almighty. If they were His 
people, then had He a peculiar interest in them, 
and might be expected to act on their behalf. If 
He was the Almighty One, then, whenever He 
arose to vindicate and deliver them, no human 
power could prevent their emancipation from bond- 
age, or their inheritance of the blessings which He 
had promised. 

It will have been repeatedly noticed that, as 
w T as stated some time since, a word may be com- 
pounded with El or /ah, so as to form a proper 
name in two ways. The sacred Name may be 
placed either before or after it, so that of the same 
word may be formed two names, often in sound 
very dissimilar, but generally identical in meaning. 
Thus we have seen that each of the words Jehoia- 
chim and Jeconiah is in use as the name of the 
same person ; JcJw (for Jehovah) in the former 
case being placed at the beginning, axidJaJi in the 
latter at the end, of the verb which signifies " estab- 
lished!." So, one of David's captains, the father 
of Bathsheba, who is in one place called Eliam, is 



THE NAME OF GOD. 225 

in another named Ammiel, the position of El be- 
ing reversed with regard to the word am, "people." 
In this way, it is evident, a large number of pairs of 
words is capable of being produced, and does in 
fact exist; the words of each pair having exactly 
the same import, and in many instances, perhaps 
in most, being regarded as interchangeable in their 
use as proper names. Several of the names which 
have been considered in this and the preceding 
chapter have their duplicates of the reverse forma- 
tion. Eliezer, " God (be my) help," is the same 
with Azriel, " (my) help (is) God f and Eleazar, 
" God hath helped," finds its corresponding verbal 
form Azar-el. Ishmael and Elishama are the same 
word, both meaning " God hath heard." So Elizur 
and Zuriel, recently noticed as compounds of zur, 
" a rock." One of the sons of Jehoshaphat was 
Shephatiah, a name of precisely the same signifi- 
cance as his own, " Jehovah hath judged/' Ahaz- 
iah, " Jehovah hath laid hold of (for succour/') is 
the same with Jeho-ahaz • and the same person was, 
in one case, known by both names, (2 Chron. xxi. 
17, xxii. 1.) Zachar-iah, "'Jehovah hath remem- 
bered," has its alternative in Jozachar ; and Zede- 
kiah, " righteousness of Jehovah," in Jo-sedech, 
" Jehovah (is) righteous." Jehoash, or Joash, and 
Jos-iah, ( Yoshiah,) have been shown to be probably 
both compounds of the word which appears in the 

P 



226 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

former as the last syllable, as/i, and in the latter as 
the first, yosh, and to mean, " Jehovah founds, or 
establishes." Elijah is a word compounded of both 
the Divine names, and so is Jo-el. The name of 
the great prophet of Israel may mean, " My God 
is Jehovah," and so be slightly distinguishable from 
Joel, which means "Jehovah (is) God;" but it is more 
probably identical with it, as an assertion that there 
is but one Divine Being, and that Jehovah is He. 

The same word may also be used with either El 
or Jah, and thus form two names, which differ 
from each other only in the particular name of 
God prefixed or postfixed. Thus, as we have seen, 
the name Eliakim, " God establishes," was ex- 
changed for Jehoiakim, " Jehovah establishes ;" 
Elisheba (Elizabeth) is " God (is her) oath," and 
Jehosheba, "Jehovah (is her) oath;" the name 
Ezekiel means " (whom) God shall strengthen," 
and the name Hezekiah, " (whom) Jehovah shall 
strengthen." Michael is the sentence, "Who is 
like God V 1 Michaiah asks, " Who is like Jehovah ?" 
A prophet of Israel, a minister of temporal deliver- 
ance, was appropriately named Elisha, " God (is) 
salvation ;" the mission of the greatest of the pro- 
phets of Judah, who came to announce both tem- 
poral deliverance and everlasting salvation, is also 
clearly represented in his name, Isaiah, " Salvation 
of Jehovah." 



THE NAME OF GOD. 227 

It will thus appear, upon recapitulation of the 
modes in which the names of God are compounded 
with other words in order to form proper names, 
that the same idea may be expressed in four dif- 
ferent ways, giving rise to four different names. 
There are several examples of this among the 
names recorded in Scripture. Nathan, itself the 
name of several persons, and meaning " He" {i.e., 
God) " hath given," entering into composition with 
El and Jah y becomes El-nathan, or Nathaniel, 
" God hath given;" Jo-nathan, or Nethaniah, 
" Jehovah hath given." Hanan, or Chanan, signi- 
fies " He (God) hath graciously given," and is so 
used by Jacob in speaking of his children, (Gen. 
xxxv. 5.) It is a name of frequent occurrence, and 
is united with El and Jah in every mode of com- 
bination, so as fully to express the sentiment of 
the simple verb : — Elhanan and Hananeel, " God 
hath graciously given f Johanan and Hananiah, 
" Jehovah hath graciously given." The pious be- 
lief implied in Nathan and Hanan, and their com- 
pounds, that children are " an heritage and gift 
that cometh of the Lord," is also found in the use 
of the word Zabad, " He hath given," in various 
forms, and in its composition, like the two former 
words, with El and Jah. Thus we read of several 
persons named Zabad, of Zabud, and Zabbud, 
which mean "given," and of Zebudah, which is 



228 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

the same in the feminine. Two of these, Zabad 
and Zabud, were sons of men whose name was 
Nathan. Then we find Zabdi, "gift of Jehovah," • 
and Zebadiah, (Zebedee in the New Testament,) 
" Jehovah hath given/' Zabdiel, " gift of God," and 
Elzabad, " God hath given." The word ab, " fa- 
ther," which is found in connection with a large 
number and great variety of words in proper names, 
forms, with El and /ah, Eiiab and Abiel, " God is 
my father ;" Joab and Abijah, " Jehovah is my 
father;" Eliezer and Azriel, lately noticed, have 
their counterparts in Joezer and Azariah. Some 
words occur in three only out of the four possible 
combinations. Thus, from the word and name 
Pelet, " deliverance," we have first Palti, (or Phalti,) 
the abbreviated form of Paltiah, " deliverance of 
Jehovah." And this, it should be remarked, is also 
equivalent to Paltiel, u deliverance of God," which 
is interchanged with Palti, as the name of the same 
person, (i Sam. xxv. 44; 2 Sam. hi. 15.) Then 
we find Piltai, in which at is again an abbreviation 
oijah; and Pelatiah, in which Jah is fully expressed 
in conjunction with a verbal form, and so mean- 
ing " (whom) Jehovah delivered." Lastly, there is 
the name Eliphalet, varied as Elpalet, belonging to 
two sons of David, (1 Chron. iii. 6, 8, xiv. 7,) and 
meaning, " God (is his) deliverance." These are 



THE NAME OF GOD. 229 

but three forms, those with El at the beginning 
and end, and that with Jah at the end. But the 
word Pelet does not occur with Jah at the begin- 
ning. The same observation may be made on the 
word Melech, "king." We find Malchiah, "Jehovah 
(is) my king," and Malchiel, "God (is) my king;" 
also Elimelech in the same sense, but nowhere a 
name composed of Jah as a prefix with Melech. 
And, generally, the number of names in which Jah 
or Jeh forms the commencement of the word is very 
much smaller than that of those ending in Jah. The 
same is true of the compounds with El. A gram- 
matical reason may perhaps be assignable for this ; 
the combination of those words with others being 
probably much more readily effected, in most in- 
stances, by subjoining them to syllables than by 
subjoining syllables to them. Or, it is entirely in 
accordance with Jewish habits of thought, and with 
the principles which regulate their whole system of 
nomenclature, to suppose that, in the majority of 
words with which El or Jah could be compounded 
so as to form human names, it seemed to them 
more decorous and reverential to assign to the 
Divine name the less rather than the more promi- 
nent position. The feeling which originated the 
traditionary practice of substituting a word of infe- 
rior dignity for the awful name which God had 



230 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

chosen for Himself, in the reading of the sacred 
books, can hardly fail to have had some influence 
in directing and limiting the use of that name when 
, taken into composition with ordinary words, and 
forming part of the appellations by which mortals 
were to be distinguished and addressed. This senti- 
ment in regard to the name of God did not arise, or 
become prevalent, in a superstitious or Rabbinical 
period of Israelitish history. Its existence from 
very early times is discernible in the class of names, 
already repeatedly alluded to, in which the action 
of God is implied by the mere verbal form, as in 
Nathan, Hanan, Japhlet, ("he delivereth,") Shaphat, 
("he hath judged;") and also, still more remarkably, 
in the class terminating in ////, " he/ ; in which the 
pronoun is undoubtedly employed reverentially 
instead of the actual name of God. Two names 
of this class are of very great antiquity, — Abihu, 
" (whose, or my) father (is) He, r the son of Aaron ; 
and Elihu, " my God is He," the fourth interlocu- 
tor with Job. . And it may be noticed as a signal ex- 
ample of the spirit of reverence which moderates the 
use of the Divine name, that in the whole dialogue 
of the Book of Job God is only once (chap. xii. 9) 
spoken of by His proper name, Jehovah, though 
tli at name occurs freely in the historical portions 
of the book ; and also that Job repeatedly substi- 
tutes the pronoun He for God, even in the opening 



THE NAME OF GOD. 231 

of a passage employing it to introduce the mention 
of the Divine Being.* 

This usage, moreover, implies habitual reference 
to God. It is an indication that those who adopted 
it had God in all their thoughts \ and further, that 
they were accustomed to give frequent expression 
to their sentiments and feelings concerning Him. 
And we may add, that such a mode of speaking of 
God would only be practised, for the most part, in 
the company of those who were like-minded with 
the speaker, for to others it would hardly be intel- 
ligible. It is a proof, therefore, when we find traces 
of it in proper names, of the general prevalence of 
religious feeling, or the existence of religious asso- 
ciations, or communities, with which the persons 
practising it were constantly conversant These 
instances are corroborated by familiar examples of 
a similar allusive style of speech. The disciples of 
Pythagoras, we are told, were accustomed to appeal 
continually to their master's authority by the phrase, 
"He said it;" a phrase which, in its Latin form, 
" Ipse dixit," has become proverbial. Such a for- 
mula could not have come into use except among 
associates animated by the same spirit of reverence 
and affection for their acknow edged Head. And, 
among ourselves, when a parent or a much-loved 
member of a family has been removed by death, it 

* xxiii. 3-15, xxvi. 6-14, xxviii. 3, 9. So Bildad, xxv. 2. 



232 NAMES COMPOUNDED WITH 

is very common for the survivors to speak of him 
one to another, or in the company of intimate 
friends, without express mention of his name, using 
the pronoun only j and the continuance of such a 
habit will be in proportion to the affection with 
which the departed one is regarded, and the fre- 
quency of the recurrence of occasions on which his 
character, his injunctions, his known will, or his 
actions become the subject of discourse. 

Examples of such a mode of designating our 
absent Master, our great invisible Friend and Bro- 
ther, are presented to us in the New Testament; 
and, as is most natural, in the writings of that 
apostle who enjoyed the closest intimacy with our 
Lord, and was privileged to entitle himself " the 
disciple whom Jesus loved." Throughout his first 
Epistle, St John repeatedly refers to Jesus by the 
pronoun "He, Him/' without any very explicit 
previous mention of His name. This is especially 
observable in chap. hi. 1-7, where the name of 
God the Father is expressed in ver. 1, 2 ; but our 
Lord is intended by the words " He, Him," very 
frequently and emphatically introduced in ver. 2-7. 
So in ver. 16, " Hereby perceive we the love of 
God" (rather, " love," simply,) " because He" {i.e., 
Jesus Christ) " laid down his life for us." 

The lesson which we have to learn from these 
observations is not so much the formal imitation of 



THE NAME OF GOD. 233 

the usage which we have been considering, as the 
adoption of the spirit by which it was dictated. 
Let us endeavour to follow the example thus set 
before us in the practice of Old Testament Saints, 
of the Patriarch, and of the Apostle, by cultivating 
a sentiment of humble reverence for the Divine 
Majesty, a constant remembrance and conscious- 
ness of the presence of our God, the love of Him 
who " first loved us," and sent His Son to die for 
our sins, the habit of communion with our invisible 
Master and Friend, and cordial satisfaction in the 
company and fellowship of those whose hearts, like 
our own, are affectionately responsive to the most 
distant allusion to His most holy and precious 
Name. 



Til. 



PROPER NAMES FORMED FROM THE 
NAMES OF HEATHEN DEITIES. 




P? is not only among the people of God, 
the professors of the only true religion, 
that we find the practice prevalent of 
constructing proper names from the names and 
titles peculiar to deity. In the records of all the 
heathen nations of antiquity, names occur com- 
pounded of the names of the idols, or false gods, 
which they worshipped. Scripture affords some 
instances in its mention of foreign personages. 
Of these the most conspicuous are .the names partly 
composed of Baal and Nebo. Baal was the name, 
or title, of a god very extensively worshipped, for 
many ages, in the countries lying between the 
rivers of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean Sea. 
He was regarded with especial reverence by the 
Phoenicians as their tutelar deity, and is often 
named in conjunction with Ashtaroth, a goddess 



NAMES FORMED, ETC. 235 

of the Zidonians, a Phoenician people. He was 
also the chief god of the Amorites, or Canaanitish 
nations, whose land was occupied by the people of 
Israel ; and hence the earliest idolatry of the 
Israelites, after they had taken possession of 
Canaan, was the worship of Baal. But even while 
in the wilderness they had been seduced, by their 
intercourse with the Moabites and Midianites, into 
the worship of this deity, under his title Baal Peor. 
He seems to have been peculiarly the god of the 
Midianites, being repeatedly mentioned in close 
connection with them. The proximity of the 
Moabites and Midianites to the land of Seir, the 
territory of the descendants of Edom, which lay 
between the regions inhabited by these two nations, 
may account for the fact that the earliest mention 
of a person named after Baal occurs in a list of 
" the kings who reigned in the land of Edom be- 
fore there reigned any king over the children of 
Israel," (Gen. xxxvi. 31, 38.) This is Baai-hanan, 
the son of Achbor. In his name, it will be imme- 
diately observed, the word hanan is compounded 
with Baal in the same way that it is with El and 
Jah in El-hanan or Johanan ; and it means " Baal 
hath graciously given," or, "the grace of Baal."' 
In a much later age we meet with the name Eth- 
baal, as that of the king of the Zidonians, whose 
daughter, the notorious Jezebel, became the wife 



236 NAMES FORMED FROM 

of Ahab, king of Israel ; and, by her pernicious 
influence over her husband, established among his 
people the worship of Baal. Eth, in Ethbaal, is 
the word which is compounded with El in Ithiel, 
and with Jah in Ittai. In both these words it has, 
according to the opinion of most critics, the sense 
of " with ;" so that they mean "with God," "with 
Jehovah," " with " being understood to signify " by 
the aid of," a sense which the corresponding pre- 
position has very commonly in the Greek language, 
when joined with the word God, or the name of 
any particular deity. Some, however, interpret 
Ithiel " God is with me," which gives an actual 
meaning very nearly allied to the former, though 
the sense of " with " varies considerably. But the 
certain meaning of Ittai, clearly a synonymous 
word, seems to determine that of Ithiel. And 
analogy is in favour of this interpretation. The 
words of Eve on the birth of Cain, " I have gotten 
a man from the Lord," are literally Eth Jehovah, 
"with (or by aid of) Jehovah;" and it was 
said of Enoch and Noah that they " walked with 
God," Eth-haclohhn. Jacob, remonstrating with 
Laban, says, " Thou knowest how thy cattle was 
(fared) with me" itti — that is, "by means of me," 
or, " under my care." Eth-baal, therefore, means 
"by the aid of Baal," expressing, as in the case of 
Eve, the acknowledgment of parents to Baal for 



THOSE OF HEATHEN DEITIES. 237 

the gift of a son, or a dedication of the child to 
Baal, to be placed under his aid and protection. 

A third nation, the Chaldean, — far more remote 
than the two former from Palestine, but closely 
connected with the people of Israel, both in their 
origin, and in the later period of the Old Testa- 
ment history, — affords several instances of the use 
of the name of this god, as well as of other deities, 
in proper names. The king of Babylon, who sent 
a complimentary message to Hezekiah, was Mero- 
dach Baladan, son of Baladan. The word Baladan 
signifies "Baal is Lord;" Adan being identical 
Avith Aden in Hebrew, and the name precisely cor- 
responding to Adonijah — "'Jehovah is Lord/' The 
name of the last king of the Chaldeans was Bel- 
shazzar. This word and Belteshazzar, the names 
given to Daniel at- the Babylonish court, both 
signify "Bel is king, chief ;; — that is, "Prince 
of kings ;" or, possibly, their meaning is, "Prince 
of Bel." Bel is a form of Baal which we meet 
with in the writings of Isaiah and Jeremiah; for 
example, "Bel cometh down/' (Isa. xlvi. 1,) "Bel 
is confounded,"' " I will punish Bel in Babylon,'' 
(Jer. 1. 2, li. 44,) 

The word Baal means "'lord," in the sense of 
master, or owner ; and is thus freely employed on 
ordinary occasions in the Old Testament writings. 
And the words above mentioned, with which it is 



233 NAMES FORMED FROM 

found compounded in heathen names, are also the 
same, or nearly so, with Hebrew words. The 
fact is that the Hebrew language is almost identi- 
cal with the Phoenician, or old Canaanitish lan- 
guage, and has a close affinity with that of the 
Chaldeans and Assyrians. In the case of the 
Assyrian tongue, the belief in this affinity, long 
entertained by most Oriental scholars, has been re- 
markably corroborated by numerous inscriptions 
on monuments and tablets recently discovered in 
Mesopotamia.* And as a considerable portion of 
the prophecies of Daniel is written in the Chal- 
dean dialect of his age, a comparison between this 
dialect and the Hebrew is easily made, and satis- 
factorily proves their relationship. The names of 
many places, as well as persons, and various ancient 
testimonies, prove that the people of Phoenicia, 
the Syrians, and Sidonians spoke the same lan- 
guage as the inhabitants of Canaan, and that this 
was the same with Hebrew, or a cognate dialect. 
The identity of the Canaanitish with the Phoenician 
language is what we might expect from the gene- 
alogy of the patriarchs of these races recorded in 
Gen. x., where it is said that " Canaan begat Sidon 
his first-born, and Heth," &c. ; " and afterward were 
the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. 

* Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies, vol. i., pp. 77-$7t 
32S-346. 



THGSE OF HEATHEN DEITIES. 239 

And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, 
as thou comest from Gerar, unto Gaza ; as thou 
goest, unto Sodom." The correspondence of the 
Hebrew, which is a Semitic language, with the 
Phoenician, or Canaanitish, which is Hamitic, may 
be more difficult to account for ; but it is a fact 
which cannot be doubted. Indeed, according to 
Mr Rawlinson, the ancient Chaldean dialect, 
spoken about the time of Abraham, had greater 
analogy with the Hamitic dialects than with any 
other, though it was a mixture of the four great 
varieties of human speech. 

The Carthaginians, so well known to all readers 
of Roman history as the greatest rivals of Rome, 
were a Phoenician colony. Hence their name 
Pceni, and the adjective Punic, which is used as 
equivalent to Carthaginian. The names of several 
of their distinguished commanders offer examples 
of the use of the name of the Phoenician deity, 
Baal, in the construction of proper names, and at 
the same time afford proof of the relationship of 
their language to Hebrew. It is somewhat re- 
markable that the name of the greatest Cartha- 
ginian general, the celebrated Hannibal, exists in 
Scripture. It is the same with Baal-hanan, the 
Edomitish sovereign, and means "grace of Baal,'! 
or " Baal has graciously given," the position of the 
name of the god being reversed, as in the case 



240 NAMES FORMED FROM 

of many synonymous names in Hebrew. The two 
names are the same in meaning, just as Jo-hanan 
and Hanan-iah are the same, or El-hanan and Han- 
.an-el. Hasdrubal, the name of HannibaFs brother, 
is similarly composed of the word Baal and a word 
which is evidently the same with Azar, or Azri, in 
Azari-ah Azri-el, and means " Baal hath helped," 
or " help of Baal." This name also occurs re- 
versed in Baleasar, recorded by Josephus as that of 
the son of Hiram, king of Tyre, the friend and ally 
of David and Solomon. The father of Hiram, 
according to the same authority, was Abibal, — a 
name which means " Baal (is my) father ;" as 
Abijah means " Jehovah (is my) father." Also, 
among the kings of Tyre, two are named Ithobal, 
which is the same as Eth-baal, father of Jezebel. 
Another, who reigned about five centuries before 
our era, was called Mer-bal. This is the same as 
Maherbal, a Carthaginian name which occurs in 
Roman history, and has probably its corresponding 
Hebrew name in Maharai, one of David's captains. 
Its meaning is " Baal is speeding," or, " speed 
(thou, O) Baal;" as that of Maharai is " Jehovah 
is speeding," or, " speed (thou), Jehovah." Maher, 
it will be remembered, is the first word in the 
long name Maher-shalal-hash-baz, (Isa. viii. i, 3,) 
where it has the signification " making speed," or 
u speedy." 



THOSE OF HE A THEN DEITIES, 241 

We find the word Baal, in a few cases, forming 
the whole or a part of an Israelitish name. Two 
persons are recorded as bearing the name Baal, — 
one a Benjamite, brother of the grandfather of 
Saul; and the other a Reubenite, who lived just 
before the captivity of the Ten Tribes. When 
thus used as the whole name, it may be certainly 
understood in its common sense of " Lord," or 
" Master f but when Baal is part of a compound 
name, it is undoubtedly the name of the heathen 
god. The first person who had such a name among 
the Israelites was Gideon, (breaker, or cutter down,) 
to whom it was applied as a surname, in the ancient 
sense of the term, and in whose case such an ex- 
planation is given of the origin and meaning of 
the word, or phrase, thus employed, as may throw 
light on two similar names which afterwards occur. 
Gideon received the name Jerub-baal from the brief 
but spirited and successful defence which his father 
Joash made of his conduct in throwing down the 
altar of Baal. " Will ye plead for Baal V* he said ; 
" will ye save him ? . . . if he be a god, let him 
plead for himself, because one hath cast down his 
altar. Therefore on that day he called him Jerub- 
baal, (let Baal plead,) saying, Let Baal plead against 
him, because he hath thrown down his altar," 
(Judges vi. 31, 32.) 

This name is mentioned afterwards as the well- 

Q 



242 NAMES FORMED FROM 

known surname of Gideon, with the variation Je- 
rubbesheth, (2 Sam. xi. 21.) Now Besheth, thus 
substituted for Baal, means " shame, disgrace," 
"shameful or base thing;" and, according to an 
ordinary practice of the writers of the Old Testa- 
ment, is employed contemptuously to denote an 
idol. It is used by Jeremiah and Hosea as syno- 
nymous with Baal : " Ye have set up altars to 
that shameful thing, (even) altars to burn incense 
to Baal," (Jer. xi. 13.) " They went to Baal-peor, 
and separated themselves unto that shame" (Hos. 
ix. 10.) At a later period, in the reign of David, 
and in the family of Saul, this same word is found 
making part of the names of two persons, both 
conspicuous in the sacred history, — Ishbosheth, 
the son of Saul, who succeeded his father as king 
of Israel, and Mephibosheth, his nephew, son of 
Jonathan. But each of these is in the Book of 
Chronicles called by a different name, in which 
Baal is substituted for Bosheth; Ishbosheth be- 
comes Esh-baal, and Mephibosheth Merib-baal. 
From the analogy of Jerub-baal it "seems reasonable 
to suppose that the termination Baal, though re- 
corded only in the genealogies of the book of later 
date, was the original termination of each name. 
In common discourse, the conventional equivalent, 
bosheth, would be adopted, and the name would 
naturally be so reported in the historical book 



THOSE OF HEATHEN DEITIES. 243 

which repeatedly has occasion to mention it. The 
relation of Merib to Mephi, in the latter of these 
two names, is uncertain, as the derivation of MepJii 
is very doubtful. But Merib-baal is certainly of 
kindred signification with Jerub-baal ; the word 
Merib, familiar to all readers of the Bible in the 
form Meribah, as meaning " contention/' being a 
participle of the same verb .of which Jerub is a 
tense. So that Jonathan probably gave his son the 
name to intimate a defiance of idols and idol wor- 
shippers, after the example of Joash, varying the 
notion Jerub-baal, " let Baal plead, or contend," 
by Merib-baal, " contender against Baal." Mephi 
is interpreted by some as having the sense " de- 
stroyer, exterminator," by which the same resolu- 
tion and defiance would be expressed in somewhat 
stronger language. It is much more difficult to 
account for the name Ishbosheth, " man of shame," 
or Eshbaal, " man of Baal." The latter word, if it 
formed the name of a heathen, would be under- 
stood to denote dedication to Baal. But it could 
not have been employed in this sense as the name 
of a son of Saul, born soon after the time when he 
was appointed king over Israel.* And it seems 

* Saul reigned forty years, (Acts xiii. 21.) Ishbosheth was 
forty years old when be succeeded his father. But there was 
probably a considerable interval between the death of Saul 
and the accession of Ishbosheth, since he is said to have 



244 NA MES FORMED FR OM 

quite impracticable to extract from it any significa- 
tion allied to that of Jerubbaal, or Meribbaal, in- 
volving a sentiment of hostility to the false god and 
his worship. Nor can the word Baal be supposed 
to have represented, in general apprehension, any 
other personage than the deity so called, since its 
interchange with bosheth certainly indicates its 
application to that deity. A conjecture may, how- 
ever, be hazarded, which affords a not entirely 
impossible solution of the difficulty. 

This fourth son of Saul was born, perhaps, four 
or five years after Saul, most unexpectedly, be- 
came the first king of Israel. His name may 
have been given him by his mother, — a circum- 
stance of which many examples exist,* and may 
have been intended to mark the high dignity re- 
cently attained by her husband. Ish is husband, 
as well as man ; and Baal is " Lord," or "Master," 
as well as " husband." Ish-Baal, then, may mean 
" (my) husband is lord," just as Elimelech means 
" God, or my God, is king," or Abner, " his father 
is Ner," — Baal being used as a higher family title 
than Ish ; or with reference to Saul's lordship, do- 
minion, and right of ownership in regard to the 
people of Israel. It is very remarkable that the 

reigned only two years, and these are evidently the last of 
the seven years during which David was king of Judah only. 
* The sons of Leah and Rachel ; Samuel ; Ichabod. 



THOSE OF HEATHEN DEITIES. 245 

next superior in age of the sons of Saul, Mal- 
chishua, bears a name in the composition of which 
the word for king (Malchi, from Melek) has part. 
If he was born three years before his brother Ish- 
baal, his name, given so soon after his father's ac- 
cession to the throne, would appear to be still more 
distinctly an allusion to a fact so important in the 
family history. 

The substitution of bosheth for Baal in the word 
Ishbosheth may be accounted for by the ambiguity 
of the name Ishbaal, which might to most minds; 
convey the sense " man of Baal," when we con- 
sider the notice taken of the meaning of proper 
names, and the importance attached to it, as well 
as the prevalent sensitiveness or jealousy in regard 
to the use of the name of an idol god. An in- 
stance of this feeling, as encouraged under Divine 
teaching, is given in the prophecy of Hosea, in 
which God, representing Israel as His spouse, says, 
" It shall be in that day that thou shalt call me 
Ishi, (my husband,) and shall call me no more Baali, 
(my lord.") And the reason is thus given : " For I 
will take away the names of Baalim out of her 
mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by 
their name." Here it is evident that the use of 
the word Baal, in its ordinary sense, as applied to 
a husband, is proscribed because it was the name 
of an idol ; for there is no proof whatever that 



246 NAMES FORMED FROM 

Jehovah, who is here the speaker, was ever wor- 
shipped by the name of Baal, as He appears to have 
been under the name and figure of the golden calves 
of Jeroboam. It is worthy of notice that, in this 
passage, both the words which form the name Ish- 
baal are introduced, and in such a manner as to 
show that the name, having originally the meaning 
which we have supposed, might yet pass into the 
form Ish-bosheth, in consequence of the idolatrous 
use of the word Baal. Poole, in his Synopsis, gives 
the following summary of the comments of various 
expositors on this passage : — " The name Baal is 
prohibited, to show detestation of idols, because 
the word is ambiguous, and common to idols. 
Although the word Baal, in ordinary use, means a 
husband, Israel shall not be allowed to employ it, 
(in speaking of or to God,) through horror of the 
name, which was applied to an idol; lest, while 
the people are speaking of one thing they should 
remember another, and, uttering the name Baal, 
should think of the idol." Simonis explains the 
name Esh-baal to mean "fire of Baal," since the 
word Esh may signify fire, and intimates that the 
sense is equivalent to that of Mephibosheth, "con 
sumer or destroyer of Baal." He considers the 
change from Esh in Esh-baal, to Ish in Ishbosheth, 
to be a play upon words, by which the people of 
the time expressed their sense of the character of 



THOSE OF HEATHEN DEITIES. 247 

this incapable and unhappy prince, thus calling 
him " man of shame." Parallel instances are to 
be found among the surnames of the Greek kings 
of Egypt, several of whom were known during their 
lifetime, and are always mentioned in the history 
by names which were actually nicknames, and sub- 
stituted for those which were given at their birth, 
or which they had themselves assumed. The sup- 
position of Simonis is entirely in accordance with 
the Hebrew or Oriental usage in regard to proper 
names, and is, in fact, the same in principle with 
that which has been offered above, and which 
accounts for the change from Ish-baal to Ish- 
bosheth by the popular sense in which the second 
word of the original name was understood. But 
most etymologists would agree that it is far more 
probable that Esh should be an abbreviation or 
corruption of Is/i, than that Ish should become a 
substitute for Esh in this name.* 

Among the civil officers of David enumerated in 
1 Chron. xxvii., one, who had charge of the olive 
and sycamore trees, was named Baal-hanan. He 
is said to have been a Gederite, that is, a native or 
inhabitant, of Geder, one of the old royal cities of 
the Canaanites. But, as nothing more is known of 
him, and we have no other hint as to his parent- 

* Ish becomes Esh, in Hebrew, by leaving out a letter; 
Esh becomes Ish by introducing one. 



248 NAMES FORMED FROM 

age or extraction, no reasonable conjecture can be 
formed to account for his possession of a name 
which certainly has the same meaning with that of 
the king of Edom mentioned in Gen. xxxvi. 29, 
and with that of the Carthaginian Hannibal, and 
implies a belief in the existence and action of Baal 
as a divine or spiritual being. 

Other names of heathen deities are found in 
the composition of Assyrian and Chaldean proper 
names recorded in the later portions of the Old 
Testament history. Adrammelech, the name of 
one of the two sons of the Assyrian king Senna- 
cherib, by whom he was murdered, is also the 
name of one of the gods of Sepharvaim, an an- 
cient Chaldean town or region. The word means 
" splendour or glory of the king." One of the 
princes of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, pre- 
sent at the taking of Jerusalem, is called Nergal- 
Sharezer \ and Nergal is the name of the tutelar 
deity of the Cuthites, a Mesopotamian people, from 
whom the same king brought settlers to colonize 
Samaria. The signification of the idol's name, as 
well as of the word joined with it in the proper 
name, is uncertain ; but as Ner means " light," 
the deity worshipped under this title was probably 
the sun, or the dawn, or fire. Sharezer is the 
name of the second of the parricidal sons of Senna- 
cherib. It is also the name of an Israelite men- 



THOSE OF HE A THEN DEITIES. 249 

tioned in the Book of the prophet Zechariah, (chap, 
vii. 2,) and is accounted for as belonging to an 
Israelite by the fact that he must have been born 
during the seventy years' captivity, and, like Daniel 
and his three companions, received a Babylonish 
name. Very probably Nergal formed the first part 
of these names, as in the former in which it is ex- 
pressed. Its suppression in the last instance may 
readily be explained by the aversion of the re- 
turned captives to idolatry, and consequently the 
indisposition of any one of them to retain as part 
of his own name that of a heathen god. 

The idol Nebo is mentioned by the prophet 
Isaiah, in connection with Bel, as one of the prin- 
cipal objects of Babylonish worship, " Bel boweth 
down, Nebo stoopeth ;" and Nebo, as well as Bel, 
or Baal, forms a portion of various royal and princely 
names conspicuous in Chaldean history. The most 
important example is Nebuchadnezzar, the con- 
queror and enslaver of Judea. Among his princes 
or generals we find Nebu-shasban, Samgar-nebo, 
and Nebu-zaradan, captain of his guard, (Jer. xxxix. 
3, 13.) And we learn from various historians that 
his father's name was Nabo-polassar, and that one 
of his predecessors in the kingdom of Babylon was 
Nabo-nassar, who is also called Beleses, and is, on 
good grounds, identified with Baladan, the father 
of Merodach Beladan, mentioned by Isaiah. The 



250 NAMES FORMED FROM 

word Nebo is the name of a mountain east of Judea, 
from which Moses surveyed the promised land be- 
fore his death. It probably means "height;" and, 
used as the name of a deity, would correspond to 
the word a/, " high," or Efyon, " most High/' ap- 
plied to the true God. The termination, variously 
written ezzar, ezer, asar, or assar, which is found 
in several of these names, is undoubtedly a word 
denoting high office or station, and is generally 
rendered as " prince." The name of the great king 
Nebuchadnezzar is interpreted by some to mean 
" Nebo, prince of gods," or " prince of Nebo the 
god." 

Some instances have already been given of Greek 
names compounded of the word for God, or of the 
names of some particular deities. The use of such 
names was common among the Greeks. The names 
of nearly all the gods which they worshipped may 
be found in the composition of proper names. But 
by far the greatest number of names thus composed 
is made up of the words Theos, the general term 
for God, and Dios, an inflexional form of the name 
of their greatest god, known as Zeus, or more fami- 
liarly to most under his Roman appellation, Jupiter. 
The readers of Grecian history will remember how 
often names beginning with Theo or Dio, or ending 
with theus (Theos) occur. Of the names of other 
deities we have some examples in Greek names 



THOSE OF HE A THEN DEITIES. 2 5 1 

belonging to persons mentioned in the New Testa- 
ment, as Apollos, an abbreviation of Apollonius, 
" belonging to Apollo ;" Phoebe, an actual name of 
the goddess Artemis, or Diana ; Hermes, the name 
of the god called by the Romans Mercury; Nereus, 
the name of a sea god ; Hymenaeus, " belonging to 
the god of marriage, Hymen /' Dionysius, belonging 
to Dionysus, or Bacchus \ Diotrephes, " nourished 
or cherished by Zeus f Demetrius, " belonging to 
the goddess Demeter, or Ceres." 

It has been observed that some of these heathen 
names express sentiments with regard to the Divine 
Being, or some imaginary tutelar deity, identical 
with those which are contained in certain Hebrew 
names. But the number of names significant of 
the attributes of God, or of feelings of veneration, 
or gratitude, or devotion towards Him, or any 
usurper of His titles, among the Greeks, and other 
heathen nations, is very small compared with the 
number of such names among the people of Israel. 
Nor is it in number only that names of this class 
exhibit their superiority. The ideas and sentiments 
of which God is the object, involved in the greater 
portion of the heathen names, are very meagre in 
character and limited in their range, contrasting 
remarkably with the fulness, richness, extent, and 
variety of the conceptions of God, and of His rela- 
tions and dealings with man, presented in the long- 



252 NAMES FORMED FROM 

lists of Hebrew names compounded with the words 
El 'and Jah. Excluding all fanciful, or even doubt- 
ful etymologies, and all mystical interpretations, — 
such, for example, as profess to discover the mys- 
tery of the Divine nature, and the characteristic 
truths of the gospel, in Old Testament names, — 
there remains in these names a mass of statements 
and propositions concerning God, His attributes, 
His will, His works, and ways, from which we might, 
dependency of any other sources of information, 
attain to a full understanding of the religion, both 
doctrinal and practical, of the people among whom 
they were in use. It would not be difficult to ex- 
tract from them a theology, a creed, a rule of life, 
and a liturgy. And the representation thus afforded 
of the character of God, and of the views and feel- 
ings of His worshippers, would commend itself to 
any mind as a religion in the highest degree sub- 
lime and pure, and infinitely superior, as a system 
of belief and of moral and spiritual sentiments, to 
any other religion actually in practice among an- 
cient nations, or existing theoretically in their 
writings. Moreover, the religion, the principles 
and doctrines of which can be ascertained, and 
could be exhibited in theological form and order 
by means of Israelitish names, will be found to 
coincide perfectly with the religion which is dog- 
matically and historically presented to us in the 



THOSE OF HE A THEX DEITIES. 253 

records which contain these names. As has been 
shown in various instances, and might be shown in 
numerous others, the expansion of the idea con- 
cisely and elliptically signified in a name is identical 
with some important declaration of Divine truth, 
or of man's duty or relation towards God, found in 
the Hebrew Scriptures, — in the Law, or the Pro- 
phets, or the Psalms. This coincidence is a valu- 
able testimony in favour of the credibility of these 
records, as the literature of a people possessing a 
religion different from any other that existed in the 
world during the whole course of their national 
history, and claiming to be the religion originally 
taught to man by his Creator ; for no one will at- 
tempt to account for this remarkable agreement by 
the supposition that the names were invented to 
support the statements of facts, and of religious 
truth and opinion, found in the various documents 
of the Hebrew literature. If, then, they do sup- 
port them, there was such a religion, so made 
known, so established, so received, as the books 
represent it to have been. Hence, also, they cor- 
roborate the character which the Jewish people, 
and the writers of the Xew Testament, ascribe to 
these books as a revelation. The names them- 
selves were not a revelation, given in detail to the 
persons who imposed or assumed them. But they 
imply knowledge and information on divine and 



254 NAMES FORMED FROM 

sacred subjects, possessed in common by their 
authors, which could only be obtained by them 
from what they at least recognized as a revelation. 
Now, the books embody all such knowledge and 
information as were necessary for the origination 
of the names, and without which they could not 
have existed. They are therefore fairly entitled to 
be considered as the acknowledged revelation, or 
the records of the revelation, on which the names 
depend. 

But the chief value of this class of Old Testa- 
ment names does not consist in the evidence 
which they afford of the historical truth of the 
narrative in which they occur, or of the reality of 
the profession and practice of the religion which 
the books of the Old Testament teach. The study 
of them is rather to be recommended as presenting 
testimonies and examples of personal and domestic 
piety, as it existed in the ancient Church of God, 
proofs of the oneness of the spirit which dwells in 
the hearts of true believers in every age, and as 
supplying us with the means of placing ourselves 
in spiritual sympathy with many a one whose 
experience has been like our own, but whose 
time of trial has long since passed away, and who 
now " through faith and patience inherits the pro- 
mises." 

It is true that among those who bore and those 



THOSE OF HE A THEN DEITIES, 255 

who gave such names there were some whose 
characters were the very opposite to those of 
believers and saints. But these, we may be well 
assured, were not the originators of the names. 
Passing beyond these to the persons to whom the 
names were in the first instance due, — knowing, 
as we do, from the usages and character of the 
Israelitish people, that the signification of a name 
was indicative of some real fact or feeling, — 
we clearly recognize in these persons the posses- 
sors of faith and hope, of trust and love, which 
had the same object as our own, — a personal God, 
the one, only, eternal, infinite Jehovah, made known 
to us by the historic facts of His personal mani- 
festation, and apprehended by our intellect and 
affections through the special grace of His indwell- 
ing Spirit. Thus, as in so many other ways, open to 
us by means of the Divine word of the Old Testa- 
ment Scripture, there is established between the 
present and the distant — even the most remotely 
distant — past, a true communion of saints, available 
for our encouragement and instruction in righteous- 
ness, especially useful for the purposes of inward 
and searching self-examination, and tending to 
stimulate, by example and comparison, our growth 
in grace, and our progress towards the attainment 
of spirituality and nearness to God in heart, life, 
and character. 



VIII. 



BIRTH NAMES. 




HE class of names upon the consideration 
of which, under the title of Birth Names, 
we now propose to enter, consists of 
those which are known to have been given at the 
time of birth, or which bear reference to circum- 
stances attendant upon the nativity of those who 
possessed them. As the custom of naming chil- 
dren at, or very soon after, birth has been preva- 
lent from a very high antiquity, perhaps most of 
those names which have been already noticed, as 
well as most that occur in Scripture, were birth 
names. So regarded, all these names may be 
divided into two classes, — the historical, and the 
sentimental ; the former comprising those which 
were due to some peculiarity in the person of the 
new-born infant, or to some event that had hap- 
pened in the family or the nation near the period 
of birth ; the latter composed of names which 



BIRTH NAMES. 257 

express some moral or religious truth, or some 
hope, expectation, or desire, either of a gene- 
ral character, ox, on behalf of the child in par- 
ticular. 

In that curious dialogue of Plato, the Cratylus, 
to which allusion has already been made, he has 
remarked (i. 397) that many names are given in the 
spirit of prayer ; and it is singular that he instances 
in three names, two of which occur, and the equiva- 
lent of the third, in the Bible, — Eutychides, which 
is the patronymic form of Eutychus, " fortunate/' or 
"successful," (Acts xx. 9;) Theophilus, "beloved 
by God," (Luke i. 3 ;) and Sosias, which has the 
same meaning as Hosea or Hoshea, " causing de- 
liverance, or safety," (Num. xiii. 8 \ 2 Kings xvii. 
1 ; Hosea i. 1.) 

The names of the sentimental class, as well as of 
the historical, would, at least in the first instance, 
be for the most part due to some occurrence or 
conjuncture of affairs, domestic or national, which 
might be connected in a parent's mind, more or less 
closely, with the future character or fortunes of his 
child. Upon this principle various proper names 
have been conjecturally accounted for in the pre- 
ceding pages. But there remains a large number, 
of the owners of which so little is known, (of many, 
nothing more than their names, and the time in 
which they lived,) that it would be extremely rash 

R 



258 BIRTH NAMES. 

to attempt to decide by means of etymology the 
reasons for their imposition. 

There is, however, a considerable proportion of 
jnames given at birth to personages prominent in 
the Scripture narrative, the origin of which is ex- 
pressly stated. And from these we may draw some 
inferences, with varying approximations to cer- 
tainty, as to the circumstances, or sentiments, which 
gave rise to the choice of similar words and phrases 
as proper names in other cases, concerning which 
no explicit information is afforded. 

No practice can be traced to a more remote 
antiquity than that which we are now considering. 
The first-born of the human family was named, 
apparently by his mother, from an expression of 
satisfaction and hope to which she gave utterance 
at his birth. " Eve gave birth to Cain, and said, 
I have gotten [qanithi] a man from Jehovah." 
There are various interpretations of the word 
which our version renders " from." Some, among 
whom is Luther, maintain that it is not a preposi- 
tion, but the definite article the, employed, as it 
often is in Hebrew, to indicate that the word to 
which it is prefixed is in the objective or accusative 
case. And so they understand the words to 
mean, " I have gotten a man, even Jehovah ;" and 
suppose that Eve thus expressed her hope, or 
belief, that this child was the promised seed who 



BIRTH NAMES. 259 

should bruise the serpent's head, and evinced her 
knowledge that the Redeemer would prove to be 
God himself, Jehovah, manifest in the flesh. But 
if she had so deep an acquaintance with the 
mystery of the incarnation, it is surprising that she 
should not also know that many generations must 
pass away before that great event should take place. 
Others render " with Jehovah " — i.e., " by the 
grace or blessing of Jehovah." But the most 
probable sense is that with which we are all 
familiar through our English version — "from," as 
"the gift of" Jehovah. Eve employed a term of 
endearment in speaking to, and of her child, which 
nature prompted, and which, perhaps, has often 
been uttered by the lips of every fond mother. 
She called him her " treasure," Cain signifying " ac 
quisition," or "possession." And the feeling of 
maternal tenderness and exultation thus expressed 
being connected in her mind with devout gratitude 
to God, and a vivid apprehension of His personal 
action in Providence, as the Author and Giver of 
every good gift, she repeatedly acknowledged the 
blessing with which she was now enriched, as a 
treasure obtained from Jehovah. It is not clearly 
ascertainable from the sacred text whether the use 
of the noun, as applied to the child, preceded that 
of the formula of thanksgiving, or the reverse. It 
was probably the frequent reiteration of both that 



260 BIRTH NAMES, 

occasioned this adoption of the word as her son's 
name. We may here, as in other cases already 
noticed, observe the same pious sentiment in the 
formation of a proper name which was fully de- 
veloped afterwards in the language of an inspired 
writer of a much later period. The name " Cain," 
— " possession," or " acquisition," — interpreted by 
the saying of Eve, is equivalent to the acknowledg- 
ment of the psalmist, " Lo, children are an heritage 
of the Lord, [Jehovah :] and the fruit of the womb 
is his reward." Cainan, the name of the son of 
Enos, grandson of Adam, is the w r ord Cain with an 
addition which renders the meaning more emphatic 
— a great possession. 

In the name Ahuzzath, belonging to a Philistine 
called " the friend " of Abimelech,. the king of the 
Philistines in Isaac's time, — and in Jerushah, the 
name of the mother of Jotham, king of Judah, — 
we find the same notion as in Cain, each of these 
words signifying a " possession." But it is pro- 
bable, especially in the first instance, that there 
was no religious sentiment connected with the im- 
position of these names ; they may have merely sig- 
nified the value or prcciousness of the children so 
called in the estimation of their parents. Bui in 
the name Mikneiah, which is that of a Levite 
harper in David's time, is comprised all that is im- 
plied in the name Cain, and in the words of Eve. 



BIRTH NAMES. 261 

It is composed of a noun (Miqne) signifying "pos- 
session/' which is of the same root as Cain, with 
the termination Jah ; and its meaning is "possession 
of Jehovah" — i.e., a possession given by Jehovah. 
The name of the second son of Adam and Eve 
is recorded as if given at his birth, but without any 
reference to its origin. Yet since the names of 
both their first son and third are representative of 
facts apprehended, or sentiments predominant, in 
the mind of their mother at the time of their birth, 
it is most reasonable to suppose that the name of 
the second son, Abel, had a similar character. It 
is difficult, however, to form a feasible conjecture 
as to the circumstances and feelings which gave 
rise to the name. It is the first example of an ill- 
omened name. The word Abel, or rather Hebel, 
is that which in our translation is almost always 
rendered " vanity • " as in the well-known passage 
in the opening of the Book of Ecclesiastes, and in 
the frequently recurring declarations in that book, 
" All is vanity." It derives this sense from its 
original meaning, "breath," or "vapour," and must 
be understood to denote that which is unsubstan- 
tial, transient, fleeting. But why should Eve call 
her second son by such a name ? Some say, to 
mark her disappointment of the hope which she 
had entertained with regard to Cain ; others con- 
sider it due to a prophetic impulse, or to a 



262 BIRTH NAMES. 

presentiment, verified in his early and tragical 
death. But, quitting all speculation on the special 
cause for the name, we may feel satisfied to dis- 
cover in it a record of Eve's impression as to the 
character of human life in our fallen and penal 
state. Experience had by this time taught her the 
meaning of the curse upon man, and woman, and 
the ground ; the daily trials and difficulties of the 
outcast pair were perhaps at that period greater 
than they had at first apprehended, and greater 
than in after-time. Her sense of the worthlessness 
and emptiness of all things belonging to humanity 
would be rendered more definite and active by the 
birth of another son into this world of change, un- 
certainty, and sorrow ; and on such an occasion her 
state of mind would naturally find expression in 
language applied to the new-born child. Her 
thoughts and feelings, condensed into the one word 
which became his name, were doubtless identical 
with those to which utterance was long after given 
in the inspired book already referred to, and on 
which that name might be inscribed as its motto 
and subject, — "Who knoweth what is good for man 
in this life, all the days of the life of his vanity 
which he spendeth as a shadow V 1 (Eccles. vi. 12.) 
It is to be observed that the word Hebel occurs 
nowhere else in Scripture as a proper name. The 
word Abel, which has in the Septuagint, and hence 



BIRTH NAMES. 263 

in our version, the same spelling, and forms, in 
combination with other words, the name of several 
places, is from a totally different root, and means 
a " meadow," or " grassy plain f in one instance, 
"lamentation," as explained in the narrative,— 
Abel-mizraim, the mourning of the Egyptians, 
(Gen. 1. 11.) 

On the birth of a third son, after the death of 
Abel, Eve is reported, in Gen. iv., to have said, 
" God hath appointed me another seed instead of 
Abel, whom Cain slew," and hence to have called 
the name of her son Seth, which means " appointed/ 5 
The word is, literally, "placed;" but this, in the 
Hebrew language, like the corresponding word in 
Greek, which is used in 1 Tim. ii. 7, Heb. i. 2, 
1 Pet. ii. 8, and several other passages, frequently 
takes the sense of " appointed." It is evident that 
Eve regarded Seth as ordained by Divine election 
to be the progenitor of a race which she had fondly 
expected would descend from Abel. She excludes 
all consideration of her first-born, Cain, and his 
offspring. It cannot be affirmed as certain that in 
the use of the word "seed" there is a reference to 
the promise concerning the seed of the woman 
given immediately after the Fall ; but this appears 
extremely probable from the connection of the word 
with the idea of ordination and election apparent 
in the term which she adopted as her son's name ; 



264 BIRTH NAMES. 

and the supposition is strengthened by the fact that, 
on occasion of the giving of the next name the 
signification of which is noticed, (Gen. v. 29,) very 
distinct allusion is made to the circumstances of 
the Fail. 

In Gen. v. the birth of Seth is again recorded. 
"Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and 
begat a son in his own likeness, after his image ; 
and called his name Seth/' Here the name is 
apparently represented as given by Adam. But 
there is no discrepancy between the two statements ; 
that of the fifth chapter, occurring in a brief com- 
pendium of the early history of the human race, 
records the name Seth without any explanation of 
its origin ; and, therefore, Eve not being mentioned 
at all, naturally refers it to the father, in whom 
doubtless was vested the right of naming his son, 
and whose necessary sanction was the same as the 
imposition of the name. But it being the design 
of the writer of the previous narrative to account 
for the name, he traces it to the circumstance out 
of which it arose \ and that being an expression 
used by Eve, he, as naturally, speaks of her as being 
the giver of the name. 

The next name the reason for the adoption of 
which is expressly stated is that of a very import- 
ant personage, Noah. His father, Lamech, called 
his name Noah, saying, "This same shall comfort 



BIRTH NAMES. 265 

us concerning our work and toil of our hands, be- 
cause of the ground which Jehovah hath cursed." 
The word Noah means "rest/' and hence "com- 
fort ;" but the word used in explanation, as account- 
ing for the name, and rendered in English " shall 
comfort," is not, as in the cases already mentioned, 
and in most of the kind, the verb corresponding to 
the noun. It is not related to it as qanithi is to 
qain, (Cain,) or as skoth is to S/zet/i, (Seth;) but 
it is another verb, nichem, having the sense "to 
comfort," and found in use in this sense as the 
foundation of various proper names, the best known 
of which is Nehemiah, " consolation of Jehovah." 
This instance of the interpretation of a name by a 
word of the same meaning, but not having the 
same root, has been alleged as an indication that 
the language of the antediluvians was not the same 
as that afterwards spoken by their descendants of 
the family of Shem ; and that the other names re- 
corded in the Hebrew book, Genesis, are only the 
equivalents in the Hebrew language of the names 
actually given in the previously universal and pro- 
bably now lost language of the antediluvian world, 
(Simones, p. 6.) But this argument is untenable, 
for the word Noah (Noach) is as pure Hebrew as 
the verb 7iichem; and there are other cases, as that 
of the prophet Samuel, in which the name does not 
exactly correspond in derivation, or even meaning, 



266 BIRTH NAMES. 

with the expression in which it is recorded to have 
originated. Besides, although Noach and niche??i 
are from different roots, there is really a consider- 
able similarity between them, not only of sense, 
but also of form and sound ; the two letters which 
in Hebrew constitute the word Noach being the 
first two of the word nicheni. 

There is, however, good reason to believe, as 
before stated, (Chap. V., p. 134,) that all these names 
are really translations of those which the persons 
now denoted by them had received in the primitive 
language of mankind. 

The saying of Lamech, by which the name of 
his son was suggested, is an expression of hope 
concerning the future character and conduct of 
Noah to which the history of the patriarch's life 
gives the appearance of an oracle. But the word 
" rest," or " consolation," is not so precisely signi- 
ficant of the nature of the benefits conferred on 
mankind through Noah as to make it at all certain 
that the name was given in the spirit of prophecy. 
Compensation for the toil of cultivating the earth, 
or mitigation of the penalties of the curse, is the 
idea prominent in the name Noah, and in the 
recorded saying of Lamech. Some such allevia- 
tion of human miseries, through a descendant of 
Eve in the line of Seth, we may reasonably sup- 
pose, was an expectation of the antediluvian pa- 



BIRTH NAMES. 267 

triarchs, founded upon the words of the promise 
contained in the sentence upon the serpent. The 
observed qualities, intellectual and spiritual, of the 
son of Lamech,, may have excited in the father's 
mind the hope that he would prove the instrument 
of the long-looked-for relief and blessing. And it 
is probable, as appeared in the two earlier cases, 
that the frequent reiteration of the language in 
which he expressed such a sentiment would result 
in the appropriation of the single term which em- 
bodied it to the child, as his distinguishing, and, 
finally, sole appellation. But the expectation of 
Lamech was certainly not fulfilled by any ameliora- 
tion of the condition of the then existing race of 
men through the agency of Noah. Morally, they 
became worse and worse ; and we cannot, there- 
fore, suppose that they enjoyed any improvement 
in their external circumstances, any diminution or 
recompense of their toil, by means of a person 
whose mission for that purpose was direct from 
God, and announced by inspiration. We must 
consider, then, that the name given by Lamech to 
his son arose simply from the persuasion of his 
own mind, that this child was destined to some 
important office and service in reference to the 
whole human race ; a persuasion due, however, to 
a belief in God's promise, and to the pious and 
thankful recognition of His special grace in the 



268 BIRTH NAMES. 

wisdom and goodness early exhibited in the char- 
acter of Noah. 

The name does not occur elsewhere. One of 
the daughters of Zelophehad is indeed called Noah 
in our version \ but the word in Hebrew is totally 
different from that which forms the name of the 
patriarch. Equivalent names, however, from the 
same root are found, the most remarkable of which 
is Manoah, the father of Samson. This word sig- 
nifies "rest" or " quiet." 

The fifth in descent from Noah through Shem is 
recorded to have been called Peleg, — that is, " divi- 
sion," — because "in his days the earth was divided." 
This division of the earth was, undoubtedly, the 
separation of nations and their distribution in dif- 
ferent localities, consequent upon the confusion of 
tongues. It has been thought by some that this 
patriarch acquired the name by which he is now 
known in mature age, inasmuch as the reason 
assigned for it is that in his days the earth was 
divided. But the expression "in .his days" may 
as well denote the season of his birth as any sub- 
sequent period of his existence. And it is far more 
likely that, as an infant, or a very young child, he 
should receive this name from his parents, to mark 
the date of his nativity by the great event of the 
time, than that such a title should be appropriated 
to any one person in particular among the grown- 



BIRTH NAMES. 269 

up men of the period, and who must already have 
had another well-known name. 

In the next name the origin of which is ac- 
counted for, we have the first instance of a child 
named by Divine command. This is Ishmael, the 
son of Abrara and Hagar. The word Ishmael 
means " God heareth," or " God shall hear." And 
Hagar was commanded, some time before the 
birth of her child, to give him this name, as the 
assurance and pledge of the mercy of God towards 
herself. The angel of Jehovah who appeared to 
her in the wilderness, when she was fleeing from 
her mistress Sarah, said to her, " Thou shalt bear 
a son, and shall call his name Ishmael ; because 
Jehovah hath heard thy affliction." It is doubtful 
whether in these words there is any allusion to the 
prayers previously, or at that time, offered by Hagar. 
Probably the meaning is that God had taken notice 
of her affliction and pitied her, and determined to 
relieve her ; for this is evidently expressed in the 
words in which she acknowledged the revelation 
now made to her : — " She called the name of Je- 
hovah who talked with her, Thou God seest 
me." And the saying which is reported as hav- 
ing suggested the title under which she worshipped 
God seems to intimate that, up to this period, He 
was not the object of her adoration, or at least of 
her personal faith and trust. The authorized ver- 



270 BIRTH NAMES. 

sion gives this saying thus : — " Have I also here 
looked after him that seeth me ?" But it may be 
more correctly rendered, " Have I, even here, seen 
(him) after he saw me V* It is an utterance of 
surprise and thankfulness, that, in a place and 
in circumstances so unlikely, God should have 
revealed Himself personally to her. And she 
ascribes her vision of God and the knowledge of 
Him thence acquired, to His previous merciful 
regard for her, and gracious determination to make 
Himself known to her. The name, therefore, Ish- 
mael, " God heareth," or " shall hear," attests the 
compassion of God for the afflicted and destitute, 
and His readiness to interfere on their behalf ; and, 
although not a record of an answer to prayer, is 
intended as an encouragement to prayer. It was 
thus accepted, we cannot doubt, by Hagar herself, 
and certainly by Abram, to whom, on her return 
home, she of course communicated the Divine 
vision and Divine command. On the birth of her 
child, the appointed name, we are told, was given 
him by his father. "Abram called his son's name 
which Hagar bore, Ishmael." And on an import- 
ant occasion, thirteen years afterwards, if he did not 
make the divinely-given name the foundation for 
his plea in interceding for blessings upon his son, 
he can hardly fail to have remembered its meaning, 
when lie presented the petition, " O that Ishmael 



BIRTH NAMES. 271 

might live before thee!" He certainly must have 
been reminded of it by the significant, gracious 
reply, "As for Ishmael, I have heard thee" An 
illustration of the truth taught by the name, and 
possibly of the benefit arising from a practical 
application of it, was soon afterwards given in the 
case of Ishmael himself, when, having been with 
his mother dismissed from his father's abode, and 
wandering in the desert, he became exhausted for 
want of food and drink, and Hagar had cast him 
under one of the shrubs, and retired to a distance 
that she might not see him die. Then it is re- 
lated that ; ' God heard the voice of the lad : and the 
angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and 
said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar \ fear not ; 
for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. ; ' 
Whether the voice of the lad was the voice of 
prayer, or only the voice of lamentation, the lan- 
guage of the narrative, and of the angel, forcibly 
attests that God, for a second time in the experi- 
ence of Hagar, justified the character which He 
had given to Himself in her son's name. 

Several other persons are mentioned in the his- 
tory of much later times as possessing this name. 
The grandfather of one of these was named Eli- 
shama, a word of nearly the same meaning, " God 
hath heard," (Jer. xli. 1.) In this sense also we 
must understand the name Samuel. Shemaiah, 



272 BIRTH NAMES. 

the name of the prophet of Judah in the reign of 
Rehoboam, is the equivalent compound with Jah, 
"Jehovah hath heard." This is a name of fre- 
quent occurrence. 

The uncompounded and substantive forms, 
Shammuah or Shomeah, Shema, Simeon, have 
the same signification. Most of these words were 
probably, two certainly, chosen as names to mark 
the fact that the persons designated by them had 
been born in answer to prayer, or in gracious con- 
sideration of the desires of their parents for off- 
spring. And in this respect they differ from the 
name Ishmael, which, as we have seen, was in the 
first instance given to commemorate a manifesta- 
tion of Divine favour in time of affliction. 

It is remarkable that, of the sons of Abraham, 
" he who was of the bond-woman," and " born 
after the flesh," received from God a name of deep 
spiritual import, conveying a fact and a promise of 
the utmost value, intelligible to all who heard it \ 
while " he who was of the free-woman, by pro- 
mise," and " born after the Spirit," was, by the 
same supreme authority, called by a name which 
was the record of a circumstance of apparently a 
trivial character, and which of itself taught no- 
thing and promised nothing. The name Isaac — 
which means " he laughs," or " shall laugh," or, 
impersonally, " there is or shall be laughing" — 



BIRTH NAMES. 273 

undoubtedly arose out of the incident which, as re- 
lated in Gen. xvii., occurred when God announced 
to Abraham the near fulfilment of the promise long 
before made, that he should have a son. Abra- 
ham was at this time ninety-nine years of age, and 
his wife Sarah ninety. On receiving this definite 
assurance, " Abraham fell upon his face and 
laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be 
born unto him that is an hundred years old, and 
shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear?" This 
laughter was the result of mingled emotions. The 
act of the patriarch in prostrating himself before 
God implies adoring gratitude, an overwhelming 
sense of the Divine goodness. The unuttered 
language of his heart acknowledges the difficulty 
he still felt in realizing the certainty of the blessing. 
Future scenes of parental bliss, scenes to be char- 
acterized by mirth and merriment, presented them- 
selves vividly to his imagination ; and perhaps, at 
the same time, his perception became very distinct 
of the incongruity of such satisfactions and delights 
with his own and Sarah's venerable age and ap- 
pearance. The combination of these various feel- 
ings produced a state of what we term nervous ex- 
citement, which very naturally exhibited itself in 
laughter. His laughter expressed pleasure and 
exultation, not unmingled with a sense of per- 
sonal unworthiness, and unfitness for the promised 

S 



274 BIRTH NAMES. 

boon. And it certainly was not considered by 
God as unseemly or irreverent, or as indicating 
unbelief, but accepted as suitable to the occasion, 
and made a symbol for the purpose of signalizing 
and recording it. When the Divine voice was 
next heard by Abraham, it was in these gracious 
words : " Sarah thy wife shall indeed bear thee a 
son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac : and I will 
establish my covenant with him for an everlasting 
covenant, and with his seed after him." Isaac, 
" he laugheth," was evidently thus chosen for the 
name of the promised heir in confirmation of the 
joyous expectations of the patriarch, and as repre- 
senting, by a simple form of expression character- 
istic of that early age, the radiant happiness which 
was to light up the evening of his days. The com- 
mand, " Thou shalt call his name Isaac," was 
equivalent to the promise given many centuries 
afterwards, on a similar occasion, to the aged Za- 
charias : " Thou shalt have joy and gladness, and 
many shall rejoice at his birth." Thus, the name of 
the heir of the covenant, although not to the ear, 
or in terms, so dignified or so spiritual as that of his 
brother Lshmael, yet, as interpreted by its history, 
possessed a significance which rendered it the sym- 
bol and earnest of blessings, and a token of the be- 
liever's satisfaction and complacency in the antici- 
pation and realization of the promises of his God. 



BIRTH NAMES. 275 

But an incident occurred after the name had 
been appointed which would connect with it ideas 
of a very different character; an incident, too, 
to which, in the absence of any other information, 
every reader of the patriarchal history would be 
disposed to refer the origin of the name. This 
was the unbelieving and irreverent laughter of 
Sarah when she overheard the repetition of the 
promise made to Abraham that she should bear a 
son. Her laughter was noticed, and reproved, by 
the Divine promiser Himself; and sinful as it was, 
it was followed by a greater sin ; for in her fear she 
denied the fact, saying, "I laughed not." Practi- 
cally she exhibited disbelief, first, of the omnipo- 
tence, and then, of the omniscience of God. Now, 
although this conduct of Sarah did not give occa- 
sion for the name of her son, the circumstances in 
which it occurred were so closely parallel to those 
which attended the imposition of the name, that it 
could not fail to become commemorative of her 
laughter as well as of that, so different in its cause 
and meaning, of her husband Abraham. Thus it 
might represent the perception which the carnal 
mind entertains of the promises of God, the incredu- 
lousness and mockery with which it too often receives 
the announcement of the wonders of His grace. 
" The natural man receiveth not the things of the 
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him." 



'7< 



BIRTH NAMES. 



Sarah, however, though chargeable on this occa- 
sion with unbelief and levity, was not an unbeliever 
nor profane, for she was one counted worthy to be 
set forth by an apostle as an example of " the 
holy women in the old time who trusted in God. ;> 
The Divine rebuke took effect upon her and 
humbled her, and was succeeded by that grace 
which always raises and restores the fallen who re- 
pent, and seek forgiveness of Him against whom 
they have sinned. When her son was born, and, 
on the day when he received the seal of the cove- 
nant, was formally and solemnly designated by the 
name which God had appointed, Sarah said, un- 
questionably in allusion to his name, " God hath 
made me to laugh, (hath made, or wrought, or ap- 
pointed laughter for me.) Every one that heareth 
will laugh with me." Her words, we cannot doubt, 
bore reference to her former laughter ; and if so, 
they strongly mark her sense of present acceptance, 
and assurance of the Divine favour. That laughter 
had been reproved by God, and in" her fear denied 
by herself; but now God had encouraged her to 
laughter, and she was not afraid to acknowledge 
and proclaim it. She remembered her sin, but she 
could remember it as a sin forgiven. Doubt and 
distrust had been turned into gratitude, and confi- 
dence, and hope ; and she felt exultation in the 
thought that she had personally become a monu- 



BIRTH NAMES. 277 

ment of the long-suffering, and forbearance, and 
loving-kindness of God. 

We see, by this instance, how very expressive the 
circumstances attending a birth may render a name 
which in itself has apparently either little meaning, 
or a trivial one, and the origin of which, without 
special information, it would be impossible to dis- 
cover. 

Of a similar character is the next name of im- 
portance which occurs in the history of the great 
patriarchal family. Jacob, the son of Isaac and 
Rebecca, derived his name from an incident of his 
natal hour : " He took his brother by the heel in 
the womb." The verb " to take by the heel " is 
aqob, and the word Jacob (or Yadqob) means " he 
taketh by the heel." The verb is figuratively 
employed to denote the action of deceiving, or 
defrauding, which is expressed also by the corre- 
sponding Latin word sipplantare, (from sub, under, 
zndp/anfa, sole of the foot,) whence the English 
" supplant/' used to translate the Hebrew word aqob 
in Gen. xxvii. 36, Jer. ix. 4. In the former of these 
passages Esau alludes to his brother's name as 
significant of his character : " Is not he rightly 
named Jacob ? for he has supplanted me these two 
times ; he took away my birthright, and behold 
now he hath taken away my blessing." In the 
latter, the prophet, deploring the low state of 



2;3 BIRTH NAMES. 

morals among the people of his time, says : 
" Every brother will utterly supplant (supplanting 
will supplant, aqob yaaqob /") words in which one 
can hardly help suspecting a reference to the treat- 
ment of a brother by the ancestor from whom the 
people derived one of their patronymic appellations. 
But, however characteristic Jacob's name maybe 
of some of the transactions of his life, we have not 
the same authority as in the case of Isaac of attri- 
buting the name to Divine command. We may 
not, therefore, suppose that it was oracularly given 
as prophetic of the mental and moral qualities and 
of the actions of its possessor. That notice should 
be taken of it when its meaning seemed to coin- 
cide with, and describe, the nature of his conduct 
on particular occasions, is perfectly natural, and 
has its parallel doubtless in the experience of us 
all, and is an example of what must have been 
constantly occurring among a race which various 
circumstances, previously discussed, had rendered 
peculiarly sensitive to the significance of proper 
names. The reason assigned for the name in the 
sacred narrative is similar to that assigned for the 
name of his brother Esau, who was so called from 
the fact that he was born covered with hair.* 

•Thus Hirtius, the name of a Roman gens, is probably 
derived from hirtus, hairy, shaggy, and due to the personal 
appearance of its founder. 



BIRTH NAMES. 279 

Comparing with these names, and the account given 
of their origin, that of Pharez, the son of Judah, 
that first bestowed on the youngest son of Jacob, 
(Benoni,) and several others afterwards to be 
mentioned, the meaning of which evidently refers 
them to the same class, it will appear almost cer- 
tain that any very marked characteristic of the new- 
born infant, or any emphatic expression or excla- 
mation uttered by one present at the birth, or any 
noteworthy circumstance connected with the birth 
itself, was considered a providential indication of 
the name which the child ought to bear. Perhaps 
there was a prevalent impression, not altogether 
unwarranted by experience, though we must pro- 
nounce it superstitious, that such a name would 
prove an augury of the future character, or destiny, 
of the individual to whom it was given. 

We cannot, however, be surprised that this 
opinion should obtain credit among the Israelites 
when we consider that a learned German, who 
wrote not two centuries ago, composed a disserta- 
tion on the subject of this class of names, in which 
he has collected numerous examples from Greek 
and Roman history of persons bearing names 
which have proved ominous of the prosperity or 
adversity, the virtues or vices, of their lives. 

Two names are found in the later genealogies 
which have affinity with the word Jacob. Jaakobah, 



28o BIRTH NAMES. 

the name of a descendant of Simeon, is in fact the 
same as Jacob, with the addition of the letters or 
syllable a/i, giving it, as some interpret, the sense 
Jacob-like, (i Chron. iv. 36.) Akhab is the name of 
a descendant of the royal house of Judah, and also 
of the chiefs of two Levitical families, (1 Chron. iii. 
24, ix. 17, Ezek. ii. 45;) it is a participial form of 
the verb aqob, and might mean "supplanted ;' ; but 
is with more probability referred to the sense " re- 
tard, hold back," which the verb admits of, (Job 
xxxviii. 4,) so as to mean delayed — i.e., in birth, in 
the process of nativity, (Hos. xiii. 13.) 

The most instructive portion of Scripture history 
on the subject of birth names is that which records 
the successive births of the twelve patriarchs, the 
sons of Jacob, and founders of the Israelitish tribes. 
The name was, in every instance, given by one or 
other of the two wives of Jacob, and was sug- 
gested by the sentiment with which the child was 
welcomed by her into the world. Some of these 
names were prophetically employed in the dying 
blessings of Jacob ; but the signification of most is 
apparently limited to the circumstances attendant 
upon the births. So full an explanation is given 
of these in the sacred text, that it is unnecessary 
for us to dwell upon each. Three or four, how- 
ever, require special notice. Jacob's first-born, the 
child of Leah, the wife whom he had not chosen, 



BIRTH XA31ES. 281 

and did not love, was named by her Reuben, for 
she said, " Surely Jehovah hath looked upon my 
affliction, (rddbehonyi j) now therefore will my hus- 
band love me." The word for " looked," raa, is 
represented in the first syllable, reu^ of the word 
Reuben ; but reu (re-u) is the plural imperative, 
and the whole word means, " see ye a son/'' which 
is more like an exclamation uttered by the mother, 
and addressed to her attendants, in the joy of find- 
ing her child was a son, than an acknowledgment 
of the mercy of the Lord corresponding to the 
actual words which she is reported to have used. 
The sentiment contained in those words would 
have been more adequately expressed by such a 
name as Reaiah, "Jehovah seeth," the name of a 
grandson of Judah, or Jeriel ; " God seeth," that of 
a grandson of Issachar, and both compounded 
with the word raa ; but it is connected with the 
name Reuben only by the radical and abstract 
notion of the verb " to see, or look/' and an allitera- 
tion oibekonyi, " on my affliction," with ben/ 1 son/' 
We may, however, trace, though, of course, some- 
what speculatively, the association of her ideas, by 
aid of the use made of the same verb on a former 
occasion, lately noticed. Hagar, it will be remem- 
bered, recognized the gracious providence of Je- 
hovah which had watched over her in her distress, 
by worshipping Him under the title, " Thou God 



2S2 BIRTH NAMES. 

seest me ;" and she at the same time, and in the 
words which involved and suggested this title, 
acknowledged that her own sense of the Divine 
" manifestation — her vision of God — was due to His 
mercy in looking upon her. So we may under- 
stand Leah when she had uttered the words, " see 
a son," or " look ye upon a son/' to have con- 
nected with them the thought that the fact of her 
being permitted to say this was due to God's hav- 
ing looked upon her; that is, regarded her with 
compassion and favour in her affliction. Her sen- 
timent was this : " I can say, ' Look ye upon a 
son/ because the Lord hath looked upon me." 
The reason for the selection of the less expressive 
phrase as the child's name, instead of the adoption 
of a word which would convey the whole of her 
pious thought, may be found in the importance, 
amounting to a kind of sacredness, attached, as 
has been before intimated, to the first utterances 
on such occasions. 

The name of Leah's fifth son is not fairly repre- 
sented by the word Issachar, adopted by us from 
the Jewish vowel -pointing, which neglects alto- 
gether one letter (s) in the middle of the word. It 
should probably be Issaschar \ and this signifies, 
" he bringeth hire," " he payeth me my hire." 
This name commemorates two sayings of Leah, in 
which the word hire occurred, quite different from 



BIRTH NAMES. 283 

each other in their meaning, and may be remem- 
bered as an example of the twofold sense which 
may be sometimes latent in the Scripture names as 
well as perhaps in other terms or expressions, espe- 
cially of an oracular nature. The name appears 
again as that of a son of Obed-edom, in whose house 
the ark abode three months in the reign of David ; 
and it is worthy of notice that two others of the 
eight sons of Obed-edom, given him, we are told, be- 
cause " the Lord blessed him/' had names of similar 
import, — Sacar, " hire," and Peulthai, " wages, or 
reward of Jehovah," (1 Chron. xxvi. 4, 5.) In these 
cases the idea expressed by the name was doubt- 
less that of Ps. cxxvii. 3 : " Lo, children are an 
heritage of Jehovah, and the fruit of the womb is 
his reward ;" in which passage the word rendered 
" reward" is Sacar, usually and more literally re- 
presented by "hire," or " wages." 

Zebulon, the name of Leah's sixth son, appears 
to bear reference to two utterances of Leah closely 
and naturally connected, the sentiment of each of 
which it was thought desirable to preserve. She 
said on occasion of his birth, " God hath endowed 
me (zebadani) with a good dowry, (zebed;) now 
will my husband dwell with me, (izbeleni,) because 
I have born him six sons." The word Zebulun is 
immediately derived from zdbal, " to dwell," and 
means "a dwelling,"— the termination im r or on> 



284 BIRTH NAMES. 

having an emphasizing or intensifying effect. It 
was chosen, rather than a word derived from zabad, 
" to give/' such as Zabbud, Zabdi, or Zebadiah — 
names which elsewhere occur — in order to express 
the more important of the two ideas, that to which 
the former was subordinate and introductory. But 
the approximation in sound of Zebel to Zebud would 
serve to keep up the remembrance of the word first 
uttered, in its signification of "gift," or "dowry." 
So again, when Rachel bore her first child, after a 
long period of hope delayed, she first said, " God 
hath taken away (asap/i) my reproach ;" and then 
we are informed that she called her son's name 
Joseph, and said, " Jehovah shall add (yoseph) to 
me another son." In this case, as in the former, 
similarity of sound seems to associate two different 
ideas, one being predominant. The first idea is 
that of ablation, or subtraction, in the removal of 
barrenness ; the second that of addition, in the in- 
crease of fruitfulness. But the first suggested the 
second, whether by sense or sound ; and hence the 
second, rather than the first, became the expressed 
and permanent name. 

An illustration of the manner in which words of 
approximate formation, yet differing in primary 
meaning, suggested each other to the Israelitish 
mind, is found in the words addressed by Joshua to 
Achan, who had caused the disaster at Ai, through 



BIRTH NAMES. 285 

his trespass in the accursed thing. He said to him, 
with undoubted allusion to his name, " Why hast 
thou troubled us {achar - tonnu ?) Jehovah shall 
trouble thee this day." Here it is to be observed 
that for Achan, the meaning of which is uncertain, 
Joshua substituted the common word Achar, " to 
trouble." Hence the place of execution was called 
the valley of Achor ; and in later times the name 
of the culprit was written Achar, as in 1 Chron. 
ii. 7: "Achar, the troubler of Israel ;" although 
there can be no doubt whatever that up to the 
time of his death his name had been Achan, as it 
is uniformly written in the Book of Joshua. 

Considerable familiarity with the Hebrew lan- 
guage, especially in its earlier periods, and an equal 
acquaintance with the manners of Oriental, and 
more particularly Semitic antiquity, are necessary 
to render intelligible to the modern and European 
mind these double derivations, interchangeable 
forms, and apparently forced association of ideas.* 
None but those who have been led to examine 
closely into the literature and history of the nations 
of Western Asia can be aware of the extent to 
which the spirit of symbolism pervades the phrase- 
ology of their discourse and writings, and all their 
habits of thought and action. But to such it must 

* See Moses Stuart on the Paronomasia of the Hebrews. 
Grammar, § 571. Also M. Renan, " Histoire des Langues 
Semitiques," pp. 135, 429. 



286 BIRTH NAMES. 

appear surprising that any possessing, or affecting, 
a claim to Hebrew scholarship should make a diffi- 
culty in accepting as an authentic record, and the 
work of one hand, the narrative of the births of 
the sons of Jacob, on account of the double origin 
assigned to some of these names. It requires, 
however, no great amount of learning — nothing, in 
fact, but the employment of a little common sense 
— to perceive the clumsiness of the supposition 
that some later writer has added to the document 
first written, one or the other of each pair of deriva- 
tions, giving his own, and of course, as he thought, 
an improved etymology of the name. If the ima- 
ginary interpolator supplied, in each case, a new 
derivation involved in a second saying ascribed to 
Leah or Rachel, because he felt that the reason for 
the name which he found in the text could not be 
maintained, he must have known, and all readers 
must have perceived, that he was offering a contra- 
diction to the original statement. But it is incon- 
ceivable that the editor or reviser "of a book which 
he accepted, or wished to be accepted, either as 
real history or a decent fiction, should act thus. 
H, on the other hand, he inserted the second ac- 
count of the reason for the name because he felt 
it did not materially differ from the former, or 
might be reconciled with it, so that the combina- 
tion of the two might appear to the reader intelli- 



BIRTH NAMES. 287 

gible and natural, what becomes of the objection to 
ascribing the double derivation to Leah or Rachel 
herself? If both terms employed could, as it 
seemed to the interpolator and his readers, reason- 
ably be represented by the name, what should 
hinder the same coalition from taking place in the 
mind of Leah or Rachel 1 

The birth of Jacob's youngest son cost his mother 
Rachel her life. With her last breath she named 
this infant Ben-oni, " son of my anguish.'' But her 
husband, dear as she was to him, and perhaps be- 
cause she was so dear, refused to ratify her act. 
He exercised his paternal authority in exchanging 
a name which would have been the painful memo- 
rial of her greatest sorrow, and his own, for one 
which was, at the same time, an expression of su- 
preme affection, and an augury of prosperity and 
honour. He called him Benjamin, (t son of my 
right hand''' — a name which displaced the melan- 
choly and ill-omened Benoni, at once, and for ever. 

The next names which we read of as given at 
the time of birth were those of the sons of Joseph. 
The choice of these is attributed solely to the father. 
One reason for this may be, that the mother was an 
alien to the race of Abraham, an Egyptian, and not 
improbably a heathen. By these names Joseph 
took occasion to testify his sense of God's good- 
ness to him — first, in his release from the miseries 



288 BIRTH NAMES. 

and degradation he had so long endured ; and next, 
in his present affluence and dignity. Manassah is 
a participial form, and means " causing to forget f 
for " God," said he, " hath made me to forget all 
my toil and all my fathers house." Ephraim, the 
name of the second son, is a word formed from the 
verb par ah, or pharah, " to be fruitful/' as is ex- 
plained in the language of Joseph, " God hath 
caused me to be fruitful (hiphrani) in the land of 
my affliction." It is worthy to be remarked, as an 
example of a class of words previously noticed, 
(Chap. III.,) which, although ending in im or aim, 
terminations which express plurality, are neverthe- 
less applied to one object or person. This word 
has the termination aim, which is usually em- 
ployed to denote duality, as yadaim, two hands, 
rag/aim, two feet. Here, like the plural forms 
with which we compared the word Elohim, (God,) 
it has a superlative sense, "doubly fruitful" — that 
is, abundantly fruitful. 

Ephraim, whose name thus commemorated his 
father's abundant prosperity, had occasion to give 
one of his own sons, born probably very late in his 
life, a name of quite an opposite character. A re- 
markable incident of patriarchal history occurring 
in his family is preserved in the First Book of 
Chronicles among the genealogies of the sons of 
Jacob. That record, after mentioning Shuthelah, 



BIRTH NAMES. 289 

his eldest son, and his descendants for several 
generations, gives the names of two other sons, 
Ezer and Elead, whom, it proceeds to state, " the 
men of Gath who were born in that land slew, be- 
cause (or, for) they came down to take away their 
cattle." We are to understand by this that the 
aboriginal inhabitants of Gath (probably Canaan- 
ites, then distinguished from the Philistines, who, 
coming from Caphtor, got possession of that region) 
made an inroad upon the rich country of Goshen 
in Egypt, in which the children of Israel had been 
settled by Pharaoh and Joseph, and came upon 
that part of it which was held by the family of 
Ephraim. In defending their property against the 
depredators, whose design was to carry off some of 
the flocks and herds, for the great number and 
excellence of which the Israelites were already 
famous, Ezer and Elead were slain. No descend- 
ants of theirs are mentioned, whence we conclude 
they had no children, or that their children, which 
is very likely, were destroyed with them. For this 
great disaster, it is said, "Ephraim their father 
mourned many days." But, soon after, his wife 
bare him a son ; and this son, born in a time of 
calamity, he named " Beriah, because it went evil 
with his house," (1 Chron. vii. 23.) The word 
employed in explaining the name is be-raah, " in 
evil ;" but the form Haft, though not in use by itself 

T 



2QO BIRTH NAMES. 

as the word for evil, is as naturally connected as 
raah with the verbal root rua/i, "to be eviL" And 
it may, with good reason, be supposed to have 
been the older form of the word thus preserved in 
this ancient name. It is to be observed, that the 
name occurs in the generation previous to that of 
the son of Ephraim, as that of Ephraim's own first 
cousin, the youngest son of Asher, who is men- 
tioned among the descendants of Jacob who came 
down with him into Egypt, and at that time appears 
to have had two sons ; so that the name did not 
originate with Ephraim. Whence we may infer 
that existing names were sometimes chosen, not 
because they were those of relatives or ancestors, 
but because they bore a signification expressing 
some event or sentiment which it was thought de- 
sirable to connect with the memory of a child's 
birth, or the fact of his existence. Two other per- 
sons received this inauspicious name — one a de- 
scendant of Benjamin, and the other of Levi, both 
in much later times. 

As the name given to Jacob's youngest son at 
his birth was exchanged for the name Benjamin, 
and never afterwards mentioned, so the birth-name 
of the great Jewish lawgiver has disappeared, and 
we know him only by that which he received three 
months after his birth from Pharaoh's daughter. 
The derivation of this name, Moses, is explicitly 






BIRTH NAMES. 291 

given in the Book of Exodus, written by himself. 
It is there said that the Egyptian princess " called 
his name Moses, (Mosheh :) and she said, Because 
I drew (caused to draw) him out of the water." 
The word mosheh is the present participle of the 
verb mashah, which was employed to express the 
notion, I drew out, or caused to draw out, (me- 
shithi,) and means " one who draws out," being 
expressive of the act of deliverance by which he 
was preserved. Now, Pharaoh's daughter certainly 
spoke in the Egyptian language, and the name given 
by her to the child, as well as the word which sug- 
gested it, must have been Egyptian. Hence it is 
supposed by some that Moses is the translation 
into Hebrew of the name actually borne by the 
future liberator of Israel while resident at the court 
of Pharaoh. But Josephus affirms that Moses is 
an Egyptian word, and that it is compounded of 
mo, "water," smdyses, " saved f a derivation which 
receives some countenance from the form of the 
name adopted by the Greek translators in the 
Septuagint, which is Mo-uses. It is also to be 
observed, that names of which the syllables Mo-ses 
form part occur in the lists of Egyptian kings pre- 
served by various writers. Of these kings, one, 
named by Josephus Themosis, and by another his- 
torian Amosis, is reported to have reigned at or near 
the time of the exodus \ another called Thmosis, 



292 BIRTH NAMES. 

or Tuth-mosis, a name probably identical with the 
former, about a hundred and twenty years after- 
wards ; so that it is plain that the word Moses may 
be Egyptian ; and it is probable enough that it may 
have formed part of the names above mentioned, 
as having some reference to the water of the Nile, 
so important to the prosperity and very subsistence 
of the people of Egypt, while it was chosen by the 
daughter of Pharaoh as aptly representing the pre- 
servation of her adopted child from and by the 
same water. Modified by a Hebrew termination 
through Hebrew use, it became capable of express- 
ing, as a Hebrew word, the sentiment which had 
suggested it in its original Egyptian form. And 
this is easily conceivable, if we consider how near 
an approach in sound to the two Egyptian words 
of the composite name Mo-yses is found in two 
Hebrew words corresponding in sense to these re- 
spectively. From mayim, water, (which becomes 
mey in construction with another word,) and yes hah, 
deliverance, a name might be constructed which 
would closely resemble in form and pronunciation 
that compounded of mo, water, and yses, delivered. 
It is to be noticed that the word mayim, M water," 
is introduced into the saying attributed to Pharaoh's 
daughter, as explanatory of the name given by her 
to the rescued infant, in juxtaposition with the word 
from which the Hebrew form Mosheh is derived ; 



BIRTH NAMES. 293 

She said, " Because I drew him out of the water." 
And in the only passage in which the verb Mashah 
is used in the sense of deliverance it is associated 
with mayim. This is in 2 Sam. xxii. 17, (identical 
with Ps. xviii. 16,) " He drew me out of many 
waters" 

Upon the whole, we may fairly conclude that 
the Hebrew etymology of the Hebrew form given 
to the Egyptian word so nearly coincided with the 
Egyptian etymology of the original word, as entirely 
to justify the sacred historian in accounting for his 
own name, in either form, by the words which he 
ascribes to Pharaoh's daughter, whether as spoken 
in Egyptian, or translated into Hebrew. 

The two sons of Moses, born in Midian, of Zip- 
porah, daughter of the priest Jethro, received from 
their father names the reason for which is explained 
in his record of their births. He called the first 
Gershom, " for he said, I have been an alien in a 
strange land." Gershom means " a stranger there." 
It is probably quite a different word from Gershon, 
the name of a son of Levi, which is derivable from 
garash, to expel, and so has the meaning " expul- 
sion." Still, the same person who is thus named in 
the Pentateuch is named Gershom in the Book of 
Chronicles ; and it is easy to see how the words 
may be understood as having the same meaning, 
and therefore, according to Hebrew usage, before 



294 BIR TH NAMES. 

explained, interchangeable. The second son of 
Moses was Eliezer, "God is my help;" " for the 
God of my father/' said he, " was mine help, and 
delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." 

The name of the eldest son is a record of the 
sense which Moses felt of his desolate condition as 
an outcast and an exile. It is a complaining me- 
morial of the reverse which had befallen him, and 
of the contrast of his present hardships and humi- 
liating position with his former happiness and dig- 
nity. But the name of the second son, referring to 
a season of adversity and danger in his history 
which he had passed through some time before 
the birth of the eldest, speaks the language of 
devout thankfulness and praise, acknowledging the 
goodness and mercy of God in His gracious inter- 
ference for the protection of His servant. It would 
seem as if the mind of Moses, during the earlier 
period of his residence in the wilds of Midian, was 
in a depressed and desponding state, brooding over 
his misfortunes, and little disposed to accept with 
satisfaction the consolations which the providence 
of God had prepared for him. But afterwards, 
when the discipline under which he had been 
placed had produced its intended salutary effect, 
and " tribulation had wrought patience, and patience 
experience, and experience hope," he could revert 
to his flight from Egypt with feelings very different 



BIRTH NAMES. 295 

from those with which he had at first contemplated 
it : he now saw in it rather mercy than judgment ; 
he thought of it as a deliverance rather than as a 
disaster, and as a proof of God's favour and good- 
will towards him, on which he might found the 
expectation of future help and blessing. So is it 
often in the experience of the people of God now. 
After a long exercise of faith and patience, during 
which our wills are subdued to the will of our God, 
and we are taught that His ways are better for us 
than our own, His providence far wiser than our 
plans, we can look back upon some decisive and 
leading event in our lives that has been in itself a 
trouble, and recognize its true character as a dis- 
pensation of loving-kindness, and a testimony of 
our heavenly Father's tenderness and watchful care 
for our souls. 

Very frequently, as we have seen, the mother 
gave the name to the child ; in the last instances, 
and others noticed, it was given by the father. But, 
in the Book of Ruth, an example occurs of the 
imposition of a name by neither of the parents, but 
by the female friends and neighbours of the family. 
The child born by Ruth to Boaz was claimed by 
them as the child of Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law ; 
and hence, as it appears, they undertook, and were 
allowed, to name it. " The women her neighbours 
gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to 



296 BIRTH NAMES. 

Naomi ; and they called his name Obed." So, a 
thousand years afterwards, on occasion of the cir- 
cumcision of John the Baptist, we are informed that 
the neighbours and cousins of his parents, who came 
to be present at this ceremony, had settled among 
themselves what his name should be, and were 
proceeding to call him Zacharias, after his father, 
without consulting either his father or mother. 
These accounts show how great an interest was felt 
among the Jews in the choice of a suitable name 
for a child, and the importance which they attached 
to the matter. Doubtless, many names originated 
in a general discussion of the question among rela- 
tives and friends ; or, consistently with the Eastern 
habits of thought on such subjects, in the frequent 
use of some particular expression suggested by the 
peculiar circumstances of the occasion. It is not 
easy to discover the allusion contained in the name 
Obed, although the language of those to whom it 
is ascribed is so carefully recorded that we must 
infer that it involves the reason for the name. We 
are told that " the women said unto Naomi, Blessed 
be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day 
without a kinsman, that his name may be famous 
in Israel. And he shall be unto thee a restorer of 
thy life, and a nourisher of thine old age : for thy 
daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is better 
to thee than seven sons, hath born him." In all 



BIRTH NAMES. 297 

this there is no word that has the same meaning 
as Obedj " one who serveth." But it probably 
expresses the desire, and hope, of the friends of 
Naomi, that the child should minister to her as the 
solace and support of her old age. 

The word Obed occurs in several compounds. 
Obed-Edom is the name of the Levite in whose 
house the ark of God abode three months, and 
means, " Edom is serving" — i.e., "is in a state of 
servitude." He was perhaps born at the time when 
some victory was gained over the Edomites. Oba- 
diah, " servant of Jehovah," is the well-known name 
of the pious comptroller of Ahab's household, and 
of the prophet who denounced God's vengeance on 
Edom. From Ebed, " servant," which is nearly the 
same word, and has quite the same meaning as 
Obed, is formed Abdeel, or Abdiel, " servant of 
God," the name of two persons of no note in 
the history of Israel. It is familiar to the readers 
of Milton as the name chosen by him for the single 
angel who, among the hosts of Satan, refused to 
join in his rebellion : — 

" Among the faithless, faithful only he." 

And allusion is made to the etymology of the 
name in the words supposed to be addressed to 
him from the heavenly throne, 

" Servant of God, well done ; well hast thou fought." 



298 BIRTH NAMES. 

Abdallah, servant of Allah, (God,) a very common 
name among the Arabs, and borne by some cele- 
brated personages in Mohammedan history, among 
whom was the father of Mohammed himself, is 
obviously identical with Abdi-el. 

The circumstances attending the birth of the 
prophet Samuel are very fully related, and are sum- 
marily commemorated in his name. It was chosen 
by his mother with the express and avowed object 
of recording the fact that he was bom in answer to 
prayer. The meaning of the word is "heard of 
God," a meaning which perfectly represents the 
sentiment contained in the saying attributed to 
Hannah, " Because I have asked him of Jehovah." 
But it has not a verbal correspondence with her 
saying; no word then used by her appearing in 
either of its syllables. The name Shealtiel, " I 
have asked of God," found afterwards as that of 
the son of king Jeconiah, and father of Zerubbabel, 
would have been more suitable as a complete echo 
of the distinguishing word in her utterance on this 
occasion. And some such word would seem still 
more likely to have been selected for the name 
from the manner in which the idea of " asking" is 
put forward, and dwelt upon, and connected with 
the derived idea of " lending," in all that is said 
about the birth of Samuel. We find it not only in 
the words uttered at his birth, but in those of Eli, 



BIRTH NAMES. 299 

in which the promise of a child was conveyed to 
her : " The God of Israel grant thee thy petition 
(shela-thek) that thou hast asked {sha-alte) of him." 
Then, when Hannah brought him to Eli to present 
him to the Lord, she said, " For this child I prayed, 
and the Lord hath given me my petition {she-e-lathi) 
which I asked (sha-alti) of him : therefore also I have 
lent (hishilti) him to the Lord ; as long as he liveth 
he shall be lent (sha-ul) unto the Lord." All these 
terms, it will be easily seen, are conjugational forms 
of the verb sha-al, " to ask." So that the name 
above mentioned, or a memorable one which was 
contemporaneous with that of the prophet, the 
name of the first king of Israel, Saul, (Sha-ul,) 
would apparently have been more appropriate than 
that which was adopted. The fact that the name 
does not verbally agree with the expression which 
certainly suggested it, may teach us caution in deal- 
ing with other cases of a similar kind ; and as there 
is no pretext for supposing in this instance any in- 
terpolation in the narrative from a later hand than 
that of the original writer, we may understand that 
there is no reason for the supposition in the earlier 
narrative of the birth and naming of the sons of 
Jacob. It may also be observed, that the transi- 
tion in Hannah's language from the idea of asking 
to that of lending, and the possible combination of 
the two in the word Saul, had that been the name 



300 BIR TH NAMES. 

chosen, present a parallel to the twofold reasons 
assigned for the names Issachar, Zebulon, and Jo- 
seph, and the comprehension of two sentiments, 
one arising out of the other, in each of those names. 
Perhaps the choice of the word Samuel, " heard 
of God," for her son's name was due to Hannah's 
desire to treasure up in her memory the fact that 
her silent prayer, mistaken by man, even by God's 
own minister and high priest, was heard and recog- 
nized as the prayer of humble faith by God him- 
self. So understood, the name becomes a testi- 
mony, encouraging the practice of secret prayer, 
ejaculatory or continuous. God " heareth not for 
much speaking \ " and He heareth not for loud 
speaking. It is right, and most profitable, that our 
voices should utter the desires of our hearts in pri- 
vate devotion and in the congregation \ but the 
essence of prayer is in the emotion of the heart, 
and the fervent breathing of the spirit ; and inward 
and silent prayer is often good for edification, and 
strengthening, and protection, and always practi- 
cable when lip-utterance would be out of place, or 
absolutely improper. And even in those seasons 
of solitary communion with God, when we are sen- 
sible of our own weakness and dulness of soul, 
and " know not what to pray for as we ought," but 
are compelled to cast ourselves in almost silence 
upon the promised grace of the Spirit, who " maketh 



BIRTH NAMES. 301 

intercession for us with groanings that cannot be 
uttered," we may remember for our comfort the 
experience of Hannah, and believe that we, too, 
though our prayers may be only tears, and sighs, 
and unexpressed longings, shall certainly be " heard 
of God." 

The name Samuel was in existence before its 
adoption by Hannah for her son. It is the same 
in the Hebrew text with Shemuel, recorded as the 
name of the princes of the tribe of Simeon, one 
of the commissioners appointed by Moses, under 
Divine direction, to divide the land of Canaan 
among the tribes. Shemuel is, indeed, the right 
pronunciation of the word. The form Shemuel is 
that employed in the Septuagint (Greek) version. 
The general signification of the name is identical 
with that of Ishmael, (God heareth, or will hear,) 
and of Simeon, (a hearing, or accepting — z>., on the 
part of God,) as we have already observed. 

The next name the etymology and origin of which 
are recorded is a memorial of disaster, and dis- 
grace, which has become proverbial. It is that of 
Ichabod, the grandson of Eli, and son of Phinehas ; 
and, like so many others, was given him by his 
mother in the hour of his birth. The shock caused 
by the sudden announcement of the capture of the 
ark of God by the Philistines, and the deaths of 
her husband and father-in-law, had, it would seem, 



302 BIR TH NAMES. 

precipitated the hour of her travail, and caused its 
fatal termination. When her son was born she 
gave no heed to the congratulations and encourage- 
ments of suiTOunding friends. She felt herself 
already in the grasp of death, and only spoke to 
name her child with her last words, "Ichabod, 
(where is the glory ?) for she said, The glory is de- 
parted from Israel, for the ark of God is taken." 
We cannot fail to perceive in this affecting record 
the signs of her deep and spiritual piety. Great 
as was her personal and domestic affliction, it was 
not the trouble that weighed most heavily upon 
her soul. She was the wife of a bad and faithless 
husband, just cut off in the midst of his sins. She 
was suffering bodily anguish, and was at the point 
of death. But, evidently, her thoughts were not 
so much occupied with her own particular dis- 
tresses as with the great calamity which had be- 
fallen her country, the bereavement sustained by 
the Church, the dishonour done to the name, and 
cause, and service of her God. The symbol of 
God's covenant with His people, the pledge and 
token of His presence, the depository of His law, 
was, in her estimation, the true glory of Israel; 
and that glory was dearer to her than a mother's 
joys, dearer than life. She mourned not for her- 
self, but for the anticipated spiritual desolation of 
her fellow-believers, her fellow-worshippers, and her 



BIRTH NAMES. 303 

children. Ichabod — where is the glory ] The name 
thus bequeathed by the dying mother, heard day 
by day in the lullaby of the orphan child, would 
be a perpetual wail in the great princely and priestly 
household, to be taken up and re-echoed through- 
out the dismayed and sorrowing tribes of Israel. 
And still, at this day, when sin, or error, or what- 
ever other spiritual evil there may be, has invaded 
the sanctuary of God, or corrupted a Christian com- 
munity, or vitiated a sacred cause, this is the all- 
expressive word in which the faithful utter their 
lamentation over the fallen. 

A personage is suddenly introduced among the 
genealogies of the tribe of Judah in 1 Chron. iv., 
and as suddenly dismissed, without any mention of 
his parentage or his posterity; it being, apparently, 
the sole object of the Chronicler to record the 
origin of his name, his character, and a remarkable 
petition which he addressed to God. This was 
Jabez ; evidently a man of importance, the pos- 
sessor of territory, and the builder of a town, or 
colonizer of a region called by his name, as ap 
pears from 1 Chron. ii. 55. Perhaps the abrupt- 
ness with which he is presented to our notice, and 
withdrawn from it, may be due to the fragmentary 
state of the manuscripts of this portion of Scrip- 
ture, and the loss of several connecting names. If 
this be so, we have all the more reason to be 



304 BIR TH NA MBS. 

thankful for the valuable nature of the information 
concerning him which has been preserved. We 
are told that "Jabez was more honourable than 
his brethren, and his mother called his name Jabez, 
(yabetz,) saying, Because I bare him with sorrow." 
The root of the word meaning " sorrow " which is 
used in this explanation of his name is the same with 
the word of which Jabez is formed, having the same 
letters, or consonants, and the same vowels, but 
with the second and third letters transposed. It is 
o-tzev, which is from the verb atzav, " to suffer 
pain ;" while Jabez (yabetz) is from avatz, another 
form of the same verb. Such transpositions are 
not uncommon in the Hebrew. Thus, for sacal, 
" to be foolish," the word casalis used ; for parafz, 
" to break out," the word patzar; The " sorrow" 
of which the mother of Jabez complained was the 
sorrow of the curse which had been pronounced 
upon woman on account of the transgression of 
Eve \ for this is the word which we read in the 
language of the sentence, "In sorrow shalt thou 
bring forth children." And a derivative which in- 
tensifies the original word is that which also ex- 
presses the penalty of man : " In sorrow (itztzavon) 
shalt thou eat of it (the ground) all the days of thy 
life." The word combines in its signification the 
senses of pain and labour. The birth of Jabez, it 
would seem, had occasioned his mother more than 



BIRTH NAMES, 305 

usual suffering. Hence her choice of the name, 
which is a participial form, and means " causing 
sorrow/' or " one who causes sorrow." In the 
brief, but comprehensive and energetic prayer, 
offered by Jabez, which is preserved in the chro- 
nicle of his race, the concluding petition is evi- 
dently founded upon his name : — " And that thou 
wouldst keep me from evil, that it may not grieve 
me" Otzbi, the Hebrew of " grieve me," is the 
infinitive, with the pronoun added, of the verb 
dfzaVj from which, as we have seen, the word Jabez 
is formed. 

It is this which gives his prayer an especial value 
in regard to our subject, as a remarkable indication 
of the attention paid by the Hebrew people to the 
signification of proper names, and an example of 
the use made of them by the spiritually minded, 
justifying the constructions which have been put 
upon many names, and our suppositions as to the 
application of their meaning by those who bore 
them, or by their contemporaries. Jabez must 
often have reflected upon his dismal name, which 
at the same time preserved the recollections of 
sorrow, and seemed to forebode it. Others could 
not fail to notice it ; and the probability is great, 
that he felt it to be a serious disadvantage to him 
on an important occasion, at a time when, as ap- 
pears from a portion of his prayer, he was seeking 

U 



306 BIR TH NAMES. 

an extension of territory, perhaps when about to 
build the city called afterwards by his name, and to 
invite settlers to inhabit it under his auspices. It 
was then that he solemnly made, and presented, his 
petition to the God of Israel that He would be 
pleased to avert the omen of his name, and reverse 
the destiny to which men might think it had 
doomed him. And it is recorded that " God 
granted him that which he requested/' This peti- 
tion, and its result, may teach us all how to deal 
with whatever discouragements we may experience 
in the work which is given us to do, even those 
which have been of longest continuance, and are 
in their nature permanent and unchangeable. Let 
us make them a subject of prayer, and boldly ask 
our God to cause every hindrance, real or ima- 
ginary, which is caused by them, to cease, and to 
grant us the very blessings that they seem to pre- 
vent or deny. 

The very ancient practice of signalizing by the 
name of a child some important experience of its 
parent or progenitor, of which Jabez is an example, 
is remarkably illustrated in a celebrated name of 
the Greek heroic age, closely resembling Jabez in 
meaning. In the 19th book of the Odyssey, 
Homer relates the origin of the name of Ulysses, 
king of Ithaca, (in Greek, Odusseus,) the hero of 
his poem. It was given him by his grandfather, 



BIR TH NA MES. 307 

Autolycus, who visited Ithaca soon after his birth, 
and whom his mother requested to name the child, 
placing him on his knees after his supper. " Here 
am I,* said Autolycus, u who have become odious 
to many men and women throughout the all- 
nourishing earth, whereupon let his name be 
Odus-eus." The word from which the name is 
here represented to have been derived is oduss- 
amenos, the usual sense of which is " to be grieved 
at," or " angry with," and which may, as attributed 
to Autolycus, mean " one who has felt aggrieved " 
by many, although the interpretation above given 
is preferable. Another modification of its mean- 
ing, bringing it still nearer to that of Jabez, is 
" one who has caused grief;" and thus it is em- 
ployed by the tragic poet Sophocles, who puts 
these words into the mouth of Ulysses, " Rightly 
am I named after troubles, for many impious men 
have caused grief to me." 

Many names are found in the various lists of 
pedigrees in the Old Testament which, like Jabez 
and Benoni, are derived from the sorrows, and 
dangers, and other circumstances of the natal hour, 
personal either to the mother or the child. Thus 
Mahli, "sick," Mahlah, "sickness," are names — the 
former of a son of Merari, the latter of a daughter 
of Zelophehad — generally understood to allude to 
the precarious state of the mother at the time of 



3o8 BIRTH NAMES. 

birth. Mahalath, the name of the daughter of 
Ishmael and wife of Esau, has the same meaning ; 
and so has Helah, the name of one of the wives of 
Ashur, the head of a family of the tribe of Judah. 
Leah, — " wearied," " faint from sickness," — the 
name of Jacob's wife, bears a similar reference ; as 
does Ephal, — "weary," or " exhausted," — a name 
of a man mentioned in Jer. xl. 8 ; and Azbuk, 
" strength exhausted," (Neh. iii. 16.) Azmaveth, — 
" strength of death," — the name of one of David's 
chief captains, is thought to imply the death of his 
mother in giving him birth. Ahimoth— " brother of 
death " — apparently intimates the death of a twin 
brother. The name Vopiscus, belonging to an 
ancient Roman family, had, according to Pliny, 
the same signification. Hushai, the name of 
David's friend and counsellor ; Hushah, that of 
the ancestor of the family of the Hushathites ; 
Hushim, that of the son of Dan, and also the 
name of a woman, are all from hush, (chush,) u to 
hasten," and are supposed to denote a premature 
birth. Bilhah, — " terror," " consternation," — the 
name of Rachael's handmaid, most probably re- 
presents the mental sufferings of the season of her 
mother's "great pain and peril." So Bilhan, an 
intensive form of the same word, name of the son 
of Ezar the Horite, (Gen. xxxvi. 27 ;) and Zaavan, 
— " extreme agitation," — the name of his brother. 



BIRTH NAMES. 309 

Laban — " white M — was a name most likely sug- 
gested by the complexion of the infant ; Edom and 
Gahar, — "red," — by the colour of the skin or the 
hair • as, in Greek, Pyrrhus, or, in Latin, Rums 
and Rutilius. Korah, the name of the principal 
insurgent against the authority of Moses and 
Aaron, means " bald-head." It first appears as 
given to a son of Esau, who received his name for 
an opposite reason, his extreme hairiness at his 
birth. Korah has its Latin equivalent in the word 
cafc'us, whence Calvinus, or, as we abbreviate it, 
Calvin, the name of the Genevan reformer; where- 
upon a Roman Catholic writer takes occasion to 
represent Calvin, the arch-schismatic, as typified 
by Korah, the first rebel against ecclesiastical 
authority. On the other hand, a Protestant divine, 
in a treatise on the types of Antichrist, finds pre- 
figured in the " baldness " of Korah the tonsure of 
the clergy of the Church of Rome. 

The time of birth also seems to have given rise 
to some names. Thus Shaharaim — " mid-dawn" — 
means that the person so called was born at that 
period of the day. Ahishahar — "brother of the 
dawn" — more poetically expresses the same fact. 
The Roman name Lucius, from lux^ "light," and 
Manius, from mane, " in the morning," are similarly 
accounted for by grammarians. 

It is a somewhat curious coincidence that 



310 BIRTH NAMES. 

Hodesh, the wife, or rather, a wife, of Shaharaim, 
is also named from the time of birth ; the word 
Hodesh meaning " new moon." It is further re- 
markable that, in the pedigree of the family of 
Benjamin, in Chron. viii. 8, 9, the wives of Sha- 
haraim are said to have been Hushim and Baara ; 
but, when the children of each of his wives are 
enumerated, the name Hodesh appears instead of 
that of Baara. The word Baara, however, is de- 
rivable from baar, to " burn/' and may thus mean 
" a burning," " a kindling," which is the sense of 
the kindred word beera in Exod. xxii. 6 J whence 
some suppose that it designates the same person 
before called Hodesh, by allusion to the kindling 
of fires as beacons, by which it was customary 
among the Israelites in very ancient times to an- 
nounce the appearance of the new moon. In later 
times we find a Jew named Numenius, (1 Mace, 
xii. 16,) which is the exact equivalent for Hodesh 
in Attic Greek. 

The locality and circumstances of the parents at 
the time of the child's birth, also, in many cases, 
supplied its name. A remarkable instance is 
afforded by the name of a very important per- 
sonage among the latest of those recorded in the 
Old Testament history. This was Zerubbabel, 
grandson of Jeconiah, king of Judah. He was 
born in Babylon during the seventy years' cap- 



BIRTH NAMES, 311 

tivity and dispersion of Judah, and his name 
registers the fact, being compounded of the word 
Zerah, to " disperse," and Babel, " Babylon." He 
was also called Shesh-bazzar, as we learn from 
Ezra i. 8, 11. This is a Persian word of uncertain 
meaning, and was doubtless the name given him, 
like the Chaldean names of Daniel and his com- 
panions, by the authorities of the Babylonish court. 
In this case, as in that of Jabez, the history of the 
individual is in reverse of the signification of his 
name. The man whose name denoted " dispersion 
in exile," and thus represents the condition of his 
fellow-countrymen at the period of his birth, was 
the chosen instrument for gathering together the 
people of Judah, and conducting them to the land 
of their fathers, for re-establishing their state, and 
rebuilding their city and temple. 

A review of the class of names which we have 
been considering — names for which reasons are 
actually assigned, or are with great probability, or 
even certainty, assignable, connected with the 
birth of those who possessed them — must lead us 
to the conclusion that among the Hebrews, as 
among other ancient nations, the imposition of a 
name upon a newly-born infant was regarded as an 
important and solemn transaction. Even the ap- 
parently accidental origin, and the trivial meaning, 
of many names corroborate the conclusion ; for it 



312 BIRTH NAMES. 

would seem, from various instances of the kind 
which are recorded, that there was felt to be a kind 
of necessity, a law, which compelled the adoption 
of such names. Like a catchword, or password, 
current among confederates in war, or the mem- 
bers of secret associations, proper names must 
often have had a signification known only to a 
small number of relations or friends, or only to the 
actual household. Perhaps they resembled in some 
degree the family mottoes attached to crests and 
coats of arms, which often seem to be utterly with- 
out meaning, often have a ludicrous meaning, but 
are of deep and cherished significance to those 
who are acquainted with their origin • and some- 
times are so connected with important events, and 
actions, as to require a long narrative for their 
explanation. 

So regarded, the names given at birth might be 
employed, in many cases, during the season of 
infancy and youth, in such a manner as to produce 
an impression on the character, and to influence 
the after-life of their possessors. And thus some, 
for the imposition of which we have no reason to 
suppose there was any Divine or supernatural 
direction, might come to be considered oracular. 



IX. 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 




HE title, " Sacramental names/' is adopted 
to denote briefly, and conveniently, that 
class of proper names to which the very 
highest degree of significance and importance 
must necessarily be attached,— names imposed 
either immediately by God himself, or under His 
inspiration, in association with some promise, or 
covenant, or declaration of His will, as to the 
character, destiny, or mission of those to whom 
they were given. Several of the names which 
have already been discussed, especially in the last 
chapter, may perhaps be considered as having a 
claim to this distinction. But we have reserved 
for examination in the present chapter those which 
pre-eminently and undoubtedly possess such a 
claim. 

The sacramental character of a name, as of 
an institution or ordinance, consists in its Divine 



3 H SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

appointment to represent, and commemorate, and 
testify some special grace and blessing, and so to 
be a permanent pledge of its bestowal ; or, to 
speak generally, a name of a person or place is 
sacramental which, by Divine authority, has be- 
come a symbol of some established relation 
between God and man, or of some fact or 
reality in God's dealings, the effect of which is 
abiding or perpetual. It was this property of 
perpetuity, and of constant daily use, which ren- 
dered a proper name so peculiarly suitable as a 
medium by which the gracious purposes and pro- 
mises of God might be exhibited and remembered. 
It was a sign and seal of what the Lord had 
spoken, which was necessarily understood and re- 
cognized as such by all. It became, therefore, a 
token of profession of faith, or of gratitude, on the 
part of those who bore it, and of those connected 
with them who were interested in its significance; 
and, at the same time, it challenged the attention 
of others to the acknowledgments and hopes of 
God's people. It was God's testimony of Him- 
self, or of His will, to, and by those who were His ; 
and their testimony concerning Him to the world. 
The first name possessing these characteristics is 
that of a man well entitled to such a distinction — 
Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, and the 
father of the faithful in every age and among all 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 315 

nations. His original name was Abram, which 
means "father of height/' or "high father." In 
the hundredth year of his age, when God appeared 
to him to announce the approaching fulfilment of 
the promise, long before made, of the birth of a 
son, He was pleased to proclaim Himself to him 
by the title of Almighty God, (El Shaddai,) and to 
renew, in a very solemn manner, the covenant into 
which He had entered with him. It was on this 
occasion, and evidently in ratification of the cove- 
nant, that God altered his name. He said, "As 
for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and 
thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither 
shall thy name any more be called Abram ; but thy 
name shall be Abraham : for a father of many 
nations have I made thee." There are various 
opinions as to the exact formation of the word Abra- 
ham. The last syllable — ham — is certainly iden- 
tical with the word hamon, used in the emphatic 
saying which both preceded the imposition of the 
name, and follows, as the explanation of it. Hamon 
means a " great multitude," the idea of greatness 
being expressed by the ending on y so that ham is 
really the original word for " multitude." It has 
nothing to do with ram, the ending of the previous 
name, Abram. Some introduce the word rab — 
" great" — between ab and ham, to account for the 
new name, which they thus compound of ab-rab- 



6 



1 6 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 



ham, and render "father, great as to multitude." 
But it is much more probable that the name Abra- 
ham is a contraction of the word formed by the 
addition of hamon, or ham, to the already existing 
name Abram ; so that the patriarch's new name 
would be, " high father of a multitude." It is thus 
interpreted by the author of the apocryphal book 
Ecclesiasticus, who says, (chap. xliv. 19,) " Abra- 
ham was a great father of a multitude of nations." 

It is worth noticing that, at the same time when 
God thus changed the name of the patriarch, He 
instituted the rite of circumcision as a seal of the 
covenant. This association confirms our repre- 
sentation of the name as possessing a sacramental 
character. For the name and the rite were equally 
connected with the covenant ; and there can be no 
doubt but that the rite was sacramental. 

In this name were comprised both the great pro- 
mises which God had made to Abram, when He 
called him to leave his native country, and which 
were developed and extended in subsequent Divine 
communications. It symbolized the promise, " I 
will make of thee a great nation/' and the still 
more glorious promise, " In thee shall all families 
of the earth be blessed." The latter is identical 
with the ultimate and highest sense of the declara- 
tion in which the augmentation of the name origi- 
nated, " Thou shalt be the father of many nations." 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 317 

For thus is that declaration interpreted by St Paul, 
who, in Rom. iv. 11-18, regards it as the designa- 
tion of Abraham to be " the father of us all," " the 
father of all them that believe/' and, finally, " the 
heir of the world." And in Gal. iii. 7-29, he 
makes precisely the same use of the promise, "in 
thee shall all nations be blessed," quoting it to 
justify his assertion that " they which are of faith, 
the same are the children of Abraham;" and pro- 
ceeding from it to represent that the atonement 
was effected " that the blessing of Abraham might 
come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ \ " and 
concluding his argument founded upon it by the 
assurance, " If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abra- 
ham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." 

Literally, Abraham was the progenitor of several 
nations, and his natural posterity were " as the 
stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand 
which is by the sea-shore, innumerable." And, 
literally, " in his seed " — the one nation which was 
heir of the temporal promise, the people of Israel 
— all the nations of the earth are blessed, since 
" of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, 
who is over all, God blessed for ever." But the 
fulness of the promise is realized in his spiritual 
fatherhood of " the nations of them which are 
saved," of the " great multitude, which no man can 
number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, 



3i8 SACRAMENTAL NAMES, 

and tongues, who stand before the throne, and be- 
fore the Lamb." And even in this lower world, 
and under the present dispensation, the time will 
come when " the seed to whom the promise was 
made" shall occupy and inherit the whole earth ; 
when all the nations, one in Christ Jesus, shall be 
blessed with faithful Abraham, and accounted his 
children. Then shall be fully understood the 
Divine pledge of mercy and blessing to mankind 
given in the name which, through a long succes- 
sion of ages of apostasy and unbelief, represented 
"the father of the faithful" as "the father of a 
multitude" of nations; in fact, of the whole multi- 
tude of the nations of the world. 

This consecrated name, Abraham, is not found 
in the Bible appropriated to any other person than 
the great patriarch. But his former name, Abram, 
is identical with Abiram, the name of the son of 
Eliab, who was engaged in the mutiny of Korah 
against Moses and Aaron, and also that of the 
eldest son of Hiel the Bethelite, the rebuilder of 
Jericho. Both of these, it may be noticed, inherited 
a curse instead of a blessing; the former through 
his own crime, the latter through the unbelief and 
presumption of his father. 

It pleased God to confirm His promise to Abra- 
ham by changing the name of his wife as well as 
his own. Instead of Sarai, she was thenceforward 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 319 

to be called Sarah. The meaning of the word 
Sarai is very doubtful, but there can be no uncer- 
tainty about that of Sarah, which is " princess or 
chieftainess," the feminine of Sar, a captain or com- 
mander. It is used repeatedly in this sense as a 
common noun ; for example, in Isa. xlix. 23, where 
it is rendered in our version " queen." The pro- 
mise of ancestorship of many nations was renewed 
when this name was given to Sarai. " I will bless 
her," said God, "and she shall become nations/' 
This association of Sarah with her husband in the 
great blessing of the covenant not improbably sug- 
gested to St Paul his allegorical reference to her 
as typifying the Gospel dispensation, "Jerusalem 
which is above, , . . . which is the mother of us 
all," (Gal. iv. 26.) But the name, although not ex- 
plained in the same manner as that of Abraham in 
the sacred text, is evidently intended as a seal of 
the promise also previously given to Abraham, 
" Kings of people [peoples] shall be of her." She 
was to be entitled " a princess," not only because 
she was to be the ancestress of a great nation liter- 
ally, of many nations spiritually, but also because 
the rank and power of royalty were to be possessed 
by her descendants, or rather because the people 
descended from her were to be ruled over by a 
regal dynasty, by a succession of kings of their 
own race and lineage, as derived from her. The 



320 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

existence of this prophecy in the days of Moses, 
and his particular knowledge of it as the writer 
.commissioned to record it, may well account for 
a passage in the Book of Genesis, which has 
frequently been alleged to disprove the Mosaic 
authorship of that book. In the genealogy of 
the descendants of Esau, the grandson of Sarah, 
the writer introduces a list of kings by saying, 
" These are the kings that reigned in the land of 
Edom before there reigned any king over the chil- 
dren of Israel." It is said that the passage could 
only have been written by one who lived after the 
establishment of monarchy in Israel. But Moses, 
having in his mind the promise made to Abraham, 
that kings should proceed from him, reiterated in 
the case of Sarah, and solemnly and sacramentally 
ratified by the name she was thenceforward to bear, 
might very naturally, when recalling the partial ful- 
filment of the prophecy in the family of Esau, use 
language which implied an anticipation of its more 
complete fulfilment in the line of Israel — that line 
of Abraham and Sarah's descendants which was 
chiefly to inherit the promises.* 

* The occurrence, however, of such a passage in the Book 

of Genesis, even if certainly written by a later hand, cannot 

of itself disparage the claim of Moses to the authorship of the 

whole book. It is the heading of a paragraph containing a 

Of kings, and may have been inserted, or written in the 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 321 

It is reasonable to suppose that, as the covenant- 
name Abraham, according to the interpretation of 
St Paul, symbolized the spiritual seed of the pa- 
triarch, the whole multitude of believers of all 
nations, so the equally sacramental name Sarah 
indicated a principality, and royalty, of a spiri- 
tual nature, reserved for her offspring. The line 
of kings descended from her terminated in the 
Lord's Anointed, the Messiah, the King of kings, 
whose " kingdom is not of this world." And 
His people are exalted to a participation in His 
princely and regal character. They are " a royal 
priesthood." He "hath made them kings and 
priests unto God and His Father. - " He " hath ap- 
pointed unto them a kingdom, as His Father has 
appointed unto Him ;" and " they shall reign for 
ever and ever." These are facts and promises 
which, to say the least, correspond very remark- 
ably with the signification of the new name divinely 
given to the wife of him who was to be the natural 

margin, as such, by the compilers of the First Book of Chro- 
nicles, in the first chapter of which we find it word for word. 
And the probability of its being an interpolation is favoured 
by the commencement of the verse which follows it, (ver. 32,) 
"And Bela the son of Bera reigned in Edom," which cer- 
tainly would more naturally connect itself with ver. 30, than 
ver. 31. In I Chron. i. 43, the sentence which follows it does 
not begin with "and," but with the name of the first of the 



322 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

ancestor of the Messiah, and the spiritual ancestor 
of all those who should be " heirs of God, and 
joint-heirs with Christ." 

In the history of Abraham, and in connection 
with his federal position and character, we find a 
name which perhaps is entitled to the veiy highest 
place among the sacramental names of the Old 
Testament. This is the name of the king of Salem, 
the priest of the most high God, Melchizedek, who 
met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the 
kings, and blessed him. " Now consider how great 
this man was," says St Paul, " unto whom even the 
patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils, 
(this man who) blessed him that had the promises. 
And, without all contradiction, the less is blessed of 
the better." The typical character of this person- 
age is more fully developed than that of any other 
in the expositions of the New Testament ; and yet 
the apostle intimates that " many things" concern- 
ing him, and " hard to be uttered," remain unsaid. 
He is the representative of the Lord Jesus Christ in 
His royalty and priesthood, in His Divine Scnship, 
and in His eternity of existence. And in the bread 
and wine which he brought, and of which the pa- 
triarch doubtless partook when he received his bless- 
ing, are presented the very symbols so long after- 
wards ordained by the Redeemer Himself to be 
( ommemorative of His atoning sacrifice. By some, 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES, 323 

indeed, the language in which the apostle describes 
this mysterious being, is understood as identifying 
him personally with our Lord ; for it is said of him 
that he was " without father, without mother, having 
neither beginning of days, nor end of life," that " he 
abideth a priest for ever/' that " it is witnessed of 
him that he liveth" and that to be made a priest 
after his order is to be made " after the power of 
an endless life? But however this may be, his 
name is clearly significant of the character of the 
Lord Jesus, and of the grace which came by Him ; 
and it is mentioned by the apostle as one of the 
most notable of the circumstances of that extraordi- 
nary manifestation. Melchizedek is, by interpre- 
tation of his name, " king of righteousness." This 
title belongs, in its supreme and perfect sense, to 
the Son of God alone. He is the King who is 
" righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His 
works." He, as the Messiah, the Prince, the 
Lord's Anointed, has " brought in everlasting 
righteousness." In His gospel — in Himself — is 
(i the righteousness of God revealed." He is "the 
righteousness " of all the subjects of His spiritual 
kingdom ; and His universal dominion will be the 
reign of righteousness. Regarded as a personal 
appellation applied to Him who is also the " King 
of peace" and our "Priest for ever," possessing " an 
intransmissible priesthood," the name Melchizedek 



324 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

becomes a seal of the richest blessings of the gospel, 
and a testimony that these are all in Christ and ever 
iiave been ; that it is only in Him personally, and 
by His immediate personal action, that they can 
become the inheritance of the believer. 

The famous name which was destined to become 
the national appellation of God's chosen people, 
and which has still a kindred use in a more 
honourable and sacred significance, was eminently 
sacramental in its origin. It was a name given 
immediately by God, commemorative of a Divine 
manifestation, the seal of a blessing, the condensa- 
tion of a promise, the expression of a spiritual 
position and character. The patriarch Jacob, on 
whom it was conferred, was, at the time, about the 
same age as his grandfather Abraham when he re- 
ceived a similar distinction. So late in their spiritual 
course were these saints of God crowned with the 
title which proclaimed the victory of their faith 
and patience; and, in each case, the greatest con- 
flicts and greatest triumphs were yet to come. In 
their new names, we cannot doubt, they found not 
only consolation and recompense for the past, but 
strength and grace for the future. 

The special occasion on which Jacob acquired 
the name Israel is one of the best known, and, at 
the same time, most mysterious incidents in the 
patriarchal history. The sacred narrative informs 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 325 

us that, in the night before his dreaded interview 
with his brother Esau, after he had made his last 
arrangements for the defence or escape of his 
family, and nothing now remained that man could 
do, " Jacob was left alone ; and there wrestled a 
man with him until the breaking of the day. And 
when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he 
touched the hollow of his thigh ; and the hollow of 
Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with 
him. And he said, Let me go, for the day 
breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, 
except thou bless me. And he said unto him, 
What is thy name % And he said, Jacob. And he 
said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but 
Israel : for as a prince hast thou power with God 
and with men, and hast prevailed," (Gen. xxxii. 
24-28.) The nature of the conflict is evident 
from the colloquy which terminated it. Jacob 
was endeavouring to detain the Being who had 
appeared to him, under the conviction that he was 
of divine or heavenly origin, and could bestow 
upon him a blessing which would insure him a 
deliverance in his present peril. And " the man " 
resisted his efforts for his detention. As He acted 
many ages afterwards, " He would have passed by 
him •* " He made as though He would have gone 
further ;" He " answered him not a word."* The 
* Mark vi. 48 ; Luke xxiv. 28 ; Mark xv. 23. 



326 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

touch which partially disabled Jacob's limb was a 
test of his perseverance, and at the same time a 
proof that he had no power over his antagonist 
except by His own permission. The precise pri- 
mary signification of the name in which the blessing 
which Jacob sought was involved, and conveyed, is 
doubtful. It depends, of course, upon that of the 
single verb, which in our version is paraphrased 
by the words, " As a prince hast thou power ;" 
for from this the first two syllables of Israel are 
formed, El, the last, as will be immediately per- 
ceived, being the word for God. This verb is 
again used twice in the passage of the prophecy of 
Hosea in which reference is made to the wrestling 
of Jacob : — " By his strength he had power with 
God : yea, he had power over the angel, and pre- 
vailed." In the margin the alternative " was a 
prince," or " behaved himself princely," is offered 
— a sense which, it will be observed, is combined, 
in the rendering of the former passage, with that of 
" having power with, or over." Some understand 
the verb to mean, " thou hast contended with ;" 
and the name derived from it, " a combat of God, 
or with God." This opinion is founded on the 
narrative and context merely, there being no 
instance elsewhere in the Bible of the use of the 
verb in this signification. On the other hand, the 
same form of the word which is employed in the 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 327 

second clause of the passage in Hosea is found in 
Judges ix. 22, in the undoubted sense of "reigned 
over," "was prince over;" and another form occurs 
in the prophecy of Hosea, where it is equally plain 
that the meaning is "they have made princes ;" 
and a noun derived from this verb is the word 
twice used for " government " in Isa. ix. 5, 6. So 
that there is, certainly, a preponderance of evidence 
in favour of the alternative rendering of the words 
of Hosea given by our version, justifying its mar- 
ginal interpretation of the name in Genesis — " a 
prince of God. ;; The first two syllables of the 
word, however, are an ancient verbal form, and 
give, as the exact meaning, "he acts as a prince 
with God" — that is, behaves himself princely, 
asserts a princely right and character which is 
admitted and allowed by God, 

The precedent of the changed name of his 
grandmother Sarah is also in favour of this inter- 
pretation of the new name given to Jacob. If she 
was to be called " princess " in anticipation of the 
royal honours, temporal and spiritual, which were 
to attach to her descendants, it was natural that he 
from whom they were to receive their distinguishing 
appellation should have a name of like significance. 
The idea contained in the name Sarah is greatly 
amplified, and rendered at the same time more in- 
telligible and more spiritual, in the word Israel, by 



328 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

its combination with the name of God, and also by 
the verbal form, which implies not only a character, 
but action dependent upon and in correspondence 
with that character. 

In a remarkable passage of the prophecy of 
Isaiah, God is represented as addressing a per- 
sonage, who can be no other than our Lord, by the 
name of Israel : — " Thou art my servant, O Israel, 
in whom I will be glorified/' (Isa. xlix. 3.) The 
explanation above given of the derivation and 
meaning of the name accounts satisfactorily for the 
resumption of its personal use in the important 
connection in which it is so employed. It is in 
the character and office of Messiah, the Lord's 
Anointed, "exalted by God's right hand to be a 
Prince and a Saviour," that this name is applied to 
the Lord Jesus. It will at once be seen that it is 
the precise equivalent of His title Messiah, or 
Christ, expressing His princely or royal dignity, 
His appointment to it as the will of God, and His 
action in accordance with it, both in reference to 
God and His people. 

Doubtless, also, the community of interest be- 
tween the Saviour and His Church is intimated by 
the employment of the proper name which had 
now become the name of the nation, in order to 
gnate Him personally. In the same manner, 
but conversely, in the New Testament, His people 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 329 

are associated with Himself under His equivalent 
title " Christ/'' when it is said that " as the body is 
one, and hath many members, and all the mem- 
bers of that one body, being many, are one body : 
so also is Christ," (1 Cor. xii. 12 :) or, again, < ; He 
saith not, And to seeds, as of many ; but as of 
one, And to thy seed, which is Christ," (Gal. hi. 16.) 
The principle and law of this spiritual identifica- 
tion of the Divine Redeemer with His Church, 
His Israel, is found in His prayer for them, as re- 
corded by St John : — " That they all may be one ; 
as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they 
also may be one in us. ... I in them, and 
thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one," 
(John xvii. 21-23.) 

The variations in the national use of the name 
Israel are worthy of consideration. It denoted the 
whole people until the epoch of the establishment 
of the monarchy. After that time, and until the 
return from captivity in Babylon, it represented 
the people of the ten tribes, as distinguished from 
those of Judah and Benjamin, who were together 
called Judah. This limitation of its use dates from 
the commencement of the reign of David, when, 
for seven years, he was recognized as king by the 
tribe of Judah only. And after the revolt of the 
ten tribes from Rehoboam, the name is uniformly, 
in the historical books, appropriated to them. But 



330 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

it is to be observed that, in the writings of the pro- 
phets who lived during this period, the word Israel 
is habitually employed to denote the whole nation, 
and very frequently must be understood with espe- 
cial application to the people of Judah and Jeru- 
salem. Evidently there was a difference between 
the ordinary or political, and the sacred or religious, 
use of the term. After the return from the cap- 
tivity, the distinction between Israel and Judah 
gradually ceased to exist; and, as the returned 
exiles were chiefly of the tribe of Judah, the name 
Jews (or Judseans) came into vogue as the name 
of the whole nation \ and the word Israel was used, 
as we find it in the New Testament, principally in 
a religious sense, or with some reference to the 
covenant relation of the people to God. By most 
Christian writers from the earliest times, and by all 
in the present day, it is used only in this higher 
sense when applied to those whom we ordinarily 
speak of as Jews \ and we give it a still higher 
signification when, on the authority of St Paul, 
we adopt it as the cherished and most expressive 
title of "the chosen generation, the holy priest- 
hood, the peculiar people," who now are inheritors 
of the blessings which it symbolizes — the Church 
of Cod which is in Christ Jesus. So clearly does 
the usage of the name, from its origin, and through- 
out its history, in the phraseology of the Old Tes- 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES, 331 

lament and of the New, of the ancient Church 
and of the Christian, exhibit its sacramental char- 
acter. 

The name Jeshurun is found three times in the 
Book of Deuteronomy, and once in the prophecy 
of Isaiah, applied to the descendants of Jacob. 
It is evidently substituted for Israel in the latter 
passage, (Isa. xliv. 1, 2) — " Yet now hear, O Jacob, 
my servant ; and Israel, whom I have chosen : Thus 
saith the Lord that made thee, . . . Fear not, 
O Jacob, my servant ; and thou, Jeshurun^ whom I 
have chosen." This word is composed oijashar — 
righteous — and the augment un, which intensifies 
the word to which it is post-fixed, so that its mean- 
ing is, " the entirely righteous." And this mean- 
ing of the word, in its application to the people of 
Israel, is confirmed by its use in another form, 
jeshar-im, with reference to them in the prayer of 
Balaam : — " Let me die the death of the righteous," 
(Num. xxiii. 10, comp. ver. 21.) There is no con- 
nection of derivation between Israel and Jeshurun, 
but there is a connection of sound and of form — 
the first three letters of the words being the same. 
And this is held sufficient, by critics of the first 
order, to account for the adoption of the latter word 
as a synonym of Israel, and to support, in the 
Hebrew mind, an association of the idea conveyed 
in one word with that appropriate to the other. 



332 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

It is also thought, by some eminent commentators, 
that the word Jezreel is employed by the prophet 
Hosea to represent the people of Israel, not only 
because this was the name of a town which was for 
some time the metropolis of the ten tribes, but on 
account of the similarity of its sound {izrahel) to 
that of the word Israel. The meaning of Jezreel 
is, " God soweth," which is susceptible of two 
senses — " God scattereth," or " God planteth." 
Commenting on the name as typically given to the 
prophet's son, (Hos. i. 4,) Calvin, supported by 
Drusius, Rivetus, and Castalio, represents God as 
thus saying, " Ye are not Israel, but izrahel, a 
people whom God will scatter and cast away." 
Afterwards, when the name is used in connection 
with the promise of restoration, and of gospel 
blessings, — "Great shall be the day of Jezreel," 
(i. 11;) " They shall hear Jezreel, and I will sow 
her to me in the earth," (ii. 22, 23,) — it is main- 
tained that the second sense of the word is to be 
understood as intimated in the passage last quoted. 
Israel, once called izrahel, as " the dispersed of 
God," shall now be called izrahel, as "the sown 
of God." So in the prophecy of Isaiah : — "'They 
shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my 
plantings the work of my hands, that I may be 
glorified/' (Isa. lx. 21.) 

We have thus an illustration of the principle 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 333 

of a symphonious and alliterative combination of 
the ideas belonging to words of different deriva- 
tions and meanings, which was applied to account 
for the double origin of the names Zebulun and 
Joseph. If Israel, meaning '• he is a prince with 
God," could suggest, as its synonym, Jeshurun, u per- 
fectly righteous/' and if also by its sound it could 
suggest, as its synonym, Jezreel, in two senses, there 
is little difficulty in understanding that in Zebulun 
might be associated the thoughts expressed both by 
zebed, " a dowry/' and zebul, " dwelling," and in 
Joseph the ideas asap/z, " he hath removed (my re- 
proach,)" zndyosepA, " he shall add (another son.)" 
Of the names of the sons of Jacob, the patriarchs 
of the twelve tribes, three, which were originally, 
like the rest, significant only as birth-names, were 
rendered sacramental by the use made of them 
by Jacob in the blessings, or prophecies, which he 
delivered on his death-bed. From having been 
merely a record of the circumstances, or senti- 
ments, attendant on the nativity of these patri- 
archs, they became prophetic symbols of the cha- 
racter and history of the tribes which were to de- 
scend from them. The three so distinguished are 
Judah, Dan, and Gad. On the birth of Judah, the 
fourth son of Jacob, his mother Leah is reported 
to have said, " Now will I praise Jehovah," and 
to have given her child the name of Judah, or 



334 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

" praise/' in commemoration of God's goodness to 
her, and as an abiding testimony of her gratitude, 
Jacob, in the first words of the blessing which he 
bestowed on him, said, with evident allusion to his 
name, "Juda/i, thou art he whom thy brethren shall 
praise;" and then follow the promises of conquest, 
ascendancy, and royalty, the fulfiment of which 
should entitle him to the praise of his brethren, 
and secure it The name thenceforward was to 
him and to his descendants a pledge of pre-emi- 
nence and glory ; not to be realized, however, for 
many generations. Especially may we deem the 
name of Judah applicable to the great promise 
contained in the blessing, of the coming of Shiloh, 
the Prince of peace, in whom all his praise should 
culminate and merge. For this was unquestion- 
ably his highest distinction, that " our Lord sprang 
out of Judah;" that his tribe should be chosen 
from those of all his brethren to be that of which 
Christ should come, the King of kings and Lord 
of lords, the Holy One who " inhabiteth the praises 
of Israel." 

That the personal sense attached to the word by 
> Jacob was preserved, and noticed, even when it 
became synonymous with Israel as the name of 
the whole Hebrew nation, is evident from the lan- 
guage of St Paul in Rom. ii. 28, 29. Employing 
the appellative "Jew" (that is, Judajan or Judahite) 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 335 

sacramentally, as denoting one of God's people, he 
says, " He is not a Jew who is one outwardly \ nei- 
ther is that circumcision which is outward in the 
flesh : but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; . . . 
whose [which man's] praise is not of men, but of 
God." Here it is plain that he not only uses the 
word Jew, as our Lord had used the term Israelite, 
when He spoke of Nathanael as " an Israelite in- 
deed," but that he makes allusion to the actual 
signification of the word " praise," or one to whom 
praise belongs. He perhaps also refers, by way of 
contrast, to its context in the prophecy of Jacob, — 
" whom thy brethren shall praise," — when he says 
of the spiritual or real Jew, that his " praise" is "not 
of men, but of God." The thought present to the 
apostle's mind was, probably, that the true Jew 
obtains every blessing which is involved in his title 
or character ■ and it was suggested by his know- 
ledge of the precise meaning of the word Jew in 
his ancestral tongue, with which he was familiar. 
And the association with circumcision, the sacra- 
ment of the old dispensation, may have had some 
influence in causing him to reflect upon the sym- 
bolical nature of the name by which now every 
subject of that dispensation was usually designated. 
Dan, the son of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid, was 
so called by Rachel because, as she said at his 
birth, God had judged her, and heard her voice. 



336 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

The word means a " judge." Jacob availed him- 
self of the signification of this son's name to convey 
a promise to his tribe, " Dan shall judge his people, 
as one of the tribes of Israel." Dan was the first 
of the children of the handmaids \ and the mean- 
ing of the promise may be, that his tribe (and 
together with it the others of its class) should not 
be in subjection to the rest, or be held and treated 
as inferior to them. Dan shall have his share in 
the general government, or shall maintain his own 
government, as on equal terms with the rest. 

The name of Gad, a " troop/' was given by Leah 
to the son of her handmaid Zilpah, to express her 
exultation in the number and expected increase of 
her family. In the brief blessing of Gad, cognate 
words occur thrice after the mention of his name, 
to indicate the fortunes of his tribe, the verb ren- 
dered " overcome " being of the same root with 
the term gedud used for " troop." It is very uncer- 
tain what events are foretold by the prediction, 
" Gad, a troop shall overcome him : but he shall 
overcome at the last." The locality of the tribe of 
Gad, on the east of Jordan, exposed it very much 
to incursions from bordering nations ; and the most 
probable allusion in the blessing is to the perma- 
nent conquest of the Hagarites, which this tribe, in 
conjunction with that of Reuben and halfManasseh, 
effected in the days of Saul, as related in i Chron. 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES, 337 

v. 10, 18-22. It is there stated that, in the great 
battle in which they defeated the Hagarites, "they 
cried unto God, and He was entreated of them; be- 
cause they put their trust in Him." The name 
borne by one of these tribes, which the great pa- 
triarch's blessing had made symbolical of final 
triumph after discomfiture, may have been a prin- 
cipal source of encouragement to the exercise of 
that trust in God which is mentioned with such 
cordial approbation in the Divine Word. The 
blessing itself may have formed the utterance of 
that cry to God in the battle, that appeal to Him, 
which He was pleased to acknowledge by granting 
complete deliverance and victory. 

One of the highest examples of a name sacra- 
mentally changed is found in that of the great 
captain of Israel, their leader into the promised 
land. His original name was Hoshea 5 but we are 
informed, on occasion of his appointment as one 
of the twelve spies sent to explore the land of Ca- 
naan, that Moses altered his name to Jehoshua, or 
Joshua. It is doubtless meant that the change was 
made at that time, although he is by anticipation 
called Joshua in preceding portions of the Mosaic 
history, written, as we must suppose, after the ex- 
pedition of the spies, which took place in the second 
year of the Exodus. The word Hoshea is an im- 
perative form of the verb yqsha y "to save," and 

Y 



338 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

expresses a prayer for salvation or deliverance, 
" Save thou." The addition of the Divine name — 
Jah — at the commencement, and the change of pro- 
nunciation in the latter part, alter the meaning to 
"Jehovah is salvation." It is not difficult to dis- 
cover a reason for this alteration of the name, and 
the benefits thence arising to him who was to bear 
it, and to all Israel. Joshua was already a highly 
distinguished personage. He had successfully com- 
manded the warriors of Israel in the battle against 
Amalek, at Rephidim, a few weeks after their de- 
parture from Egypt, and he had been chosen as 
the confidential minister and personal attendant of 
Moses ; so that he must be considered as the chief 
of the twelve princes of tribes who were designated 
for the hazardous enterprise of exploring the land 
of Canaan j and we know that it was the Divine 
intention to consecrate him as the successor of 
Moses in the leadership of the people. With a 
view, therefore, to the increase of his importance 
and dignity, and to his own encouragement and 
that of his associates, and the whole congregation, 
on the present momentous occasion, Moses, taking 
advantage of his already significant name, converted 
it into a title which at once conveyed a promise of 
Almighty protection, and expressed the creed, and 
faith, and hope of the people of God. The name, 
like other names thus given, was God's blessing. 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 339 

abiding henceforth permanently with the person 
who received it, but not for his benefit alone. The 
captain of the adventurous band which went forth 
to search the land of promise entered upon his 
undertaking with the character of a man to whom 
Jehovah had pledged His own great name for sal- 
vation. The confidence in God inspired by the 
knowledge of this fact supplied the right principles 
and spirit with which he and his comrades should 
proceed on their perilous mission ; and the propi- 
tious augury of the leader's name was verified by 
their safe return. As before, in the case of Moses, 
Israel might thus " have understood how that God 
by his hand would deliver them," and give them 
victory and complete success in their invasion of 
Canaan ; but as yet they understood not. They 
were afraid of the warlike inhabitants, and refused 
to advance to the possession of the inheritance 
which God had promised them ; " they murmured 
in their tents, and hearkened not to the voice of 
the Lord." Joshua, however, was true to his newly- 
acquired name. In the strength of the promise 
and blessing of which it was the symbol, he, with 
Caleb, endeavoured to allay the fears and revive 
the faith of Israel ; and the language in which he 
addressed them breathes the very sentiment of his 
name — Jehovah (is our) salvation. " If Jehovah 
delight in us," he said, " then he will bring us into 



340 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

this land, and give it us. . . , Fear ye not the 
people of the land : their defence is departed from 
them, and Jehovah is fvith us: fear them not." 

Forty years afterwards, the blessing sacrament- 
ally identified with his personality was confirmed 
by a special communication made to him by God, 
and fully realized in its temporal significance by 
himself and his people. God spake to him after 
the death of Moses, and gave him the reiterated 
assurance that He would be with him, to give him 
prosperity and success. " As I was with Moses, so 
I will be with thee ; I will not fail thee, nor forsake 
thee. Jehovah thy God is with thee whithersoever 
thou goest,"(Josh. i. 5, 9.) And, in giving him instruc- 
tion to prepare for the great miracle of the passage 
through Jordan, God said to him, " This day will I 
begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, 
that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so 
I will be with thee." How well Joshua under- 
stood that the object and effect of his own exalta- 
tion, thus promised, was to be the disclosure of 
God's presence and grace to His people, is clear 
from the words in which he announced to them 
the approaching miracle, " Hereby ye shall hioiu 
that the living God is among you!' And the truth 
involved in his name was very plainly taught him, 
and humbly recognized by him, when the mysteri- 
BUfl Being who appeared to him before Jericho 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 341 

declared Himself to be the captain of the host of 
the Lord, accepted his homage and worship, and 
proceeded to hold converse with him in language 
which could leave no room for doubt that He was 
Himself Jehovah. However great Joshua might 
be, both by name and office, both his name and 
office appropriately belonged to a greater ; and 
both indicated that Jehovah, Lord of all the earth, 
the living and only God, was the salvation of 
Israel. 

The attentive readers of the Bible are well 
aware how prevalent in the writings of the Old 
Testament is the sentiment of this illustrious name, 
and how often its very terms occur. We find it 
expressed first in the opening stanza of the song 
of Moses upon the passage of the Red Sea, 
"Jehovah is my strength and my song, and he is 
become my salvation." The introduction of the 
phrase in such a connection may not improbably 
account for its adoption by Moses as the name 
of his chief officer and successor. It is worthy of 
observation, that the very words of the great pro- 
phet and lawgiver are repeated by the Psalmist in 
the same psalm (cxviii. 14) in which the original 
name of Joshua occurs, in its primary sense, as a 
prayer, forming, in fact, the cry Hosanna, " Save 
now, [I beseech thee, O Lord.]" They are em- 
ployed with special emphasis by the prophet Isaiah, 



342 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

u Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not 
be afraid : for the Lord Jehovah [J ah, Jehovah] is 
my strength and my song \ he also is become my 
salvation." 

The name Joshua derives its greatest importance 
and its highest sanctity from the fact that it was 
divinely chosen as the name to be borne among 
men by the Messiah, the Lord of glory, the eternal 
Son of God. Reserving the consideration of it in 
this application for a future page, let it here suffice 
to notice the process of transition by which it has 
passed into the form Jesus. When the word Jah 
was prefixed to the word Hoshea, the compound 
resulting was, as given in our version, (Num. xiii. 
1 6,) the word Jehoshua. And in this form the 
name exists in all the passages in which it occurs 
in the Old Testament, except in the Books of 
Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. In those books 
we find the abbreviation Jeshua, which, at the time 
when they were written, was evidently the ordinary 
spelling and pronunciation of the name, whether 
as that of the first possessor of it, (Neh. viii. 17,) 
or that of individuals then living. The form Je- 
hoshua is preserved, however, in the pedigree 
given in the earlier part of the First Book of Chron- 
icles, probably because copied from an ancient 
genealogical document. And the high priest, who 
is always called Jeshua in the Books of Ezra 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 343 

and Nehemiah, is uniformly called Jehoshua by 
the contemporary prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. 
The prophets, it may be supposed, adopted the 
older and original form of the name as more digni- 
fied and more sacred ; and thus regarded, this prac- 
tice of theirs confirms our views as to the import- 
ance attached to proper names in general, and to 
this in particular. The word Jeshua was altered, 
in the pronunciation of the Alexandrian Jews, into 
Jesus \ just as Elisha was into Elisaee and Elissaeus. 
And this word is written always in the Septuagint 
version wherever either Jehoshua or Jeshua occurs 
in the Hebrew. Hence Jesus is read for Joshua 
in the Greek of the New Testament, and retained, 
very inconveniently, in our version, in Acts vii. 45, 
and Heb. iv. 8. 

The name Joshua has become very important as 
an evidence in defence of the Mosaic authority of 
the books of the Pentateuch. It has been alleged 
by some writers, on the ground of certain usages of 
the word Jehovah observed in the Pentateuch, and 
in later books, that this name of God was not 
known in the age of Moses, and that therefore all 
passages in which it occurs must have been written 
by a later author. But if the proper name of a 
person known to have been living in the time of 
Moses is found to involve in its composition the 
word Jehovah, this is a sufficient proof that the 



344 SACRAMENTAL NAMES, 

word must have been in familiar use as a Divine 
name at that time. Now we have seen that the 
name of the mother of Moses, Jochebed, recorded 
in the Book of Exodus, was a word of this kind ; 
and also that the registers preserved in the First 
Book of Chronicles exhibit several names among 
the grandsons of the twelve patriarchs similarly 
compounded. It has been, however, suggested, 
although on most insufficient grounds, that such 
names may have been introduced into the history, 
or the genealogies, by some of the later writers of 
the Old Testament. But it is quite impossible 
to entertain any such supposition in the case of 
Joshua. No fact is better established than that a 
leader of that name conducted the Israelites into 
the land of Canaan, immediately after the death of 
Moses. His name could no more have been the 
invention of a later age than that of Moses him- 
self. For it is incredible, if a person of such dis- 
tinction in the history of the nation ever existed, 
that his real name should have been forgotten, or 
that a fictitious one should have been successfully 
introduced instead of it at any period. So that, 
most consistently with the characteristic of unity 
of design which pervades the whole of the Holy 
S< riptures, the name which was destined to be the 
concentration and substance of God's latest reve- 
lation to man has become a convincing testimony 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 345 

in favour of the genuineness and authenticity of the 
record which contains the earliest. 

No name of a strictly sacramental character 
occurs after this until the birth of Solomon. This 
name, which, we are told in the Book of Kings, 
David gave to his son who was to be the heir of 
his royalty, we learn from the supplementary Book 
of Chronicles, was so given by Divine command, 
received by David before the birth of the child. 
Its meaning is "peaceable;" and it was selected 
as the name of David's successor, to denote his 
character, and that of his reign. " Behold/' said 
God, " a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a 
man of rest ; and I will give him rest from all his 
enemies round about : for his name shall be Solo- 
mon, [S/ielomo,] and I will give peace [s/ia/om] 
and quietness unto Israel in his days," (1 Chron. 
xxii. 9.) The promise thus given, and thus sealed 
and symbolized in the name which God appointed 
for the future king, was amply fulfilled ; for we read 
in the history of Solomon's reign that " he had 
peace on all sides round about him. And Judah 
and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine 
and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, 
all the days of Solomon," (1 Kings iv. 24, 25.) 
But we cannot doubt that the name had a far 
higher significance, and was intended as a pledge 
of the establishment of a peace, and a reign of 



346 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

peace, far more blessed and more enduring than 
that which formed the security and happiness of 
Judah and Israel under Solomon. The seventy- 
second Psalm, which is entitled, " for, or on Solo- 
mon/' and in which the blessing of peace is twice 
emphatically promised with evident allusion to his 
name, cannot be understood in all its expressions 
otherwise than typically, and as prophetic of One 
greater than Solomon, even the greater Solomon, 
the true Prince of peace. 

Another name was solemnly conferred upon this 
prince at his birth, by which we do not find him 
designated on any subsequent occasion. It is said 
that " Jehovah loved him. And he sent by the hand 
of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name 
Jedidiah, because of Jehovah/' (2 Sam. xii. 24, 25.) 
Jedidiah means " beloved of Jehovah." Both its 
sentiment, and the fact that it was bestowed by God 
himself, and the subject of a special mission of 
His prophet, would seem to render this name pre- 
ferable for dignity and sanctity to the name of 
Solomon, which the historian states had been pre- 
viously given by David. So that, if this were the 
only account extant of the transaction, there would 
be a difficulty and inconsistency of which the rash 
criticism of neology would doubtless have availed 
itself, to throw discredit on the truthfulness of the 
history, or at least of this portion of it. It might 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 347 

have been plausibly represented as incredible that 
the name Solomon, devised by David, should be 
retained in preference to the name which God him- 
self had chosen for the royal infant — a name sin- 
gularly expressive of His favour. But the informa- 
tion supplied by the Book of Chronicles reconciles 
the apparently conflicting statements of the earlier 
history. As we have seen, the author of that book 
states that the name Solomon was not due to the 
choice of David, but had been given in obedience 
to a Divine command issued before the child's 
birth. It was, therefore, of equal authority with 
the name Jedidiah, and took precedence of it, 
through priority of announcement, as the ordinary 
and historical name. Jedidiah, of more private 
and personal import, would remain a title quite as 
permanent as the well-known name, though not to 
be borne or proclaimed openly, but cherished in 
domestic use, and perhaps regarded as possessing 
a peculiarly hallowed and mystic character. It 
was, in fact, in its distinguishing term Jadid, a word 
of the same significance with the name of the royal 
parent, David. But while the word David — " be- 
loved" — might express only the affection of an 
earthly parent, and was very probably so employed 
by Jesse in choosing it for the name of his youngest 
son, the addition of the Divine name Jah to Jadid, 
the equivalent of David, indicated that the child 



34§ SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

thus designated was the object of parental love to 
the Deity himself. Thus it comprehended the 
promise which had some time previously been 
made to David concerning his heir; a promise, let 
it be remembered, which was communicated to 
him by the same prophet Nathan by whom God 
sent to confer on this son the name or tide Jedi- 
diah. " I will be his father," had the Lord said, 
" and he shall be my son." 

Now we know, upon the authority of St Paul, 
(Heb. i. 5,) that the anti-typal or final application 
of these words is to the greatest " Son of David," 
the Messiah, who was David's Lord. As there- 
fore, unquestionably, Solomon was a representative 
person, a type of Christ, in his occupancy of the 
throne of David, in the extended dominion of his 
fame and power among the Gentiles, and especi- 
ally in the character of his reign, and therefore in 
the name Solomon, expressive of that character, 
it is at least not inconsistent with these facts to 
suppose that this comparatively private and secret 
name Jedidiah — "beloved of Jehovah" — should 
betoken the most intimate and mysterious relation 
to God of His Divine Anti-type, " the Beloved," in 
whom " God hath made us," His true Israel, " ac- 
cepted," and whom He twice solemnly announced 
by an audible voice, but not in public, and only to 
a chosen few, in those words so full of love to Him 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 349 

and to us, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I 
am well pleased." 

It is worthy of notice in this connection that, 
although Solomon's higher and more sacred name 
is only once mentioned in Scripture, it was not 
forgotten in after-ages that the great king whose 
reign of peace was symbolized by his name Solo- 
mon, " the peaceful," had also the name Jedidiah, 
k ' beloved of Jehovah ;" for Nehemiah evidently 
alludes to it when he says of him that " among 
many nations there was no king like him, who was 
beloved of his God," (Neh. xiii. 26.) 

When the prophet Isaiah was sent to Ahaz, king 
of Judah, with a message of encouragement, and 
also a warning of impending calamities, and to 
give to the unbelieving monarch and his family the 
promise of the Messiah under the title of Im- 
manuel, he was directed by God to take with him 
his son Shear-jashub. The reason for this associa- 
tion of his son with himself on this occasion, is not 
apparent in anything then said or done. But, in a 
prophecy on the same subject, delivered evidently 
not long after, the words which compose the name 
of the son are so used as to make it plain that the 
name had been given, or adopted, by God for the 
purpose of attesting and sealing the promise con- 
veyed by its meaning — " the remnant shall return." 
" It shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant 



350 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

of the house of Israel, and such as escape of the 
house of Jacob, . . . shall stay upon Jehovah, 
the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant 
shall return^ [shear-jashua,] even the remnant of 
Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy 
people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a rem- 
nant of them shall return" (Isa. x. 20-22.) At the 
same time with the prophet' s mission to Ahaz, he 
was commanded to take a great roll, probably a 
large tablet, and to inscribe upon it the words, 
" Maher-shalal-hash-baz" the meaning of which is, 
"haste to the spoil, quick to the prey." Within 
a year after this a son was born to the prophet, 
whom the Lord bade him call by the name 
"Maher-shalal-hash-baz," adding, " Before the child 
shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my 
mother, the riches of Damascus, and the spoil of 
Samaria, shall be taken away before the king of 
Assyria." This child was of course to be, both 
before and after the event which his name symbol- 
ized, a living witness, by that name, of the truth 
of God in His threats against the idolatrous and 
apostate kingdom of Israel. 

In the prophecy delivered immediately after the 
birth of his second son, Isaiah says, " Behold, I 
and the children whom the Lord hath given me, 
are signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of 
hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion," (viii. 18 ;) a 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 351 

clear testimony to the sacramental character of the 
names of both his sons. We see, therefore, the 
reason of the command to take with him his son 
Shear-jashub when he went to deliver his varied 
message to King Ahab. The child bore a name 
which was a recognized symbol of a great promise, 
implying the fulfilment of a great threat ; and was 
on this occasion, after the manner of prophetic 
actions in those days, presented to the notice of 
the king as a visible pledge of the Divine inten- 
tion. It is remarkable that thenceforward, in all 
Old Testament prophecy, and not in the writings 
of Isaiah alone, the term " remnant " is of extremely 
frequent occurrence, as applied to the future 
generation which should realize the fulfilment of 
God's most gracious promises. It would seem as 
if, from its repeated and emphatic use by Isaiah at 
a particular period, and its symbolic designation of 
his son, it had become a consecrated or sacra- 
mental word, a key-word of prophecy and of pious 
discourse, combining in itself the idea of judgment 
and mercy, of destruction and preservation, of re- 
jection for sin and restoration to God's favour. 
And in this sense the use of the word has been per- 
petuated by St Paul in his application of it to 
the believing Israelites of every age — " The rem- 
nant according to the election of grace," (Rom. ix. 
27, xi. 5.) That remnant is a continual pledge of 



352 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

the ultimate fulfilment of God's promise to the 
whole nation according to the import of the name 
of the prophet's son, Shear-jashub, "a remnant 
shall return," meaning the nation when reduced to 
a remnant. And its return will be of the same 
nature with that originally intended in this remark- 
able name ; it " shall return unto the mighty God," 
unto Him to whom this title of supreme majesty 
was given at the same period, in conjunction with 
the titles Wonderful, Counsellor, The Father of 
Eternity, The Prince of Peace. 

In Isa. lxii., God's promises by His prophet to 
Zion and the land of Israel, and typically to the 
Church and kingdom of the Messiah, are con- 
firmed by symbolical names : — " Thou shalt be 
called by a new name. . . . Thou shalt no 
more be termed Forsaken, [Azubah ;] neither shall 
thy land any more be termed Desolate, [Shema- 
mah :] but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, [my 
delight is in her,] and thy land Be-ulah, [mar- 
ried.]" The same words — " desolate," "forsaken," 
" married" — had been employed in the enunciation 
of similar promises in a previous portion of the 
prophecy, (liv. i, 6 : ) — " Sing, O barren, thou that 
didst not bear: ... for more are the children 
of the desolate \shomamaJi\ than the children of the 
married wife^ [be-ulah,'] saith the Lord. . . . 
For the Lord hath called thee as a woman for- 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 353 

saken, {azubah,) and grieved in spirit, (atzubahr) 
The conversion of these terms into symbolical 
proper names is in accordance with the representa- 
tion of future events of an adverse and prosperous 
character by the actual names of Isaiah's sons ; 
and to this extent is a corroboration of the gene- 
rally received opinion, strongly controverted by 
recent criticism, that the latter portion of this book, 
as well as the former, is the work of the prophet 
Isaiah. Further, it is somewhat remarkable that 
Azubah and Hephzibah were both actual proper 
names of queens of Judah. Azubah was the name 
of the mother of Jehoshaphat, and Hephzibah was 
the consort of King Hezekiah, and mother of 
Manasseh, who was born twelve years before his 
father's death. There is nothing improbable in 
the adoption of these royal names designedly, as 
such, to symbolize the past and future condition of 
the royal city; and the choice of the name Heph- 
zibah would be peculiarly appropriate and signifi- 
cant in the writings of a prophet who lived and 
wrote, as Isaiah did, while a person of that name 
was the queen of the pious King Hezekiah. 

It is again a confirmation of the authorship of 
this whole book by Isaiah that the choice of 
significant names for a prophet's children, and the 
employment of other symbolical names, was a 
characteristic of the spirit of prophecy in his age. 

Z 



354 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

For Hosea, who lived precisely at the same time, 
and prophesied chiefly concerning the Ten Tribes, 
was directed to call his eldest son Jezreel, with a 
special reference to the place so named ; his next 
child, a daughter, was called Lo-ruhamah — that is, 
"not having obtained mercy f and the third, a 
son, Lo-ammi — that is, "not my people. " These 
names were given to intimate God's rejection of 
Israel on account of their sins. But afterwards 
the word of the Lord by the prophet was, " Say 
ye to your brethren ammi (my people) and to 
your sisters rahamah, (having obtained mercy;) a 
gracious message, entirely corresponding to that 
sent through Isaiah to Jerusalem — " Thou shalt be 
called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah." 

By the same prophet also God said to His 
people Israel, addressed under the figure of a wife, 
"At that day thou shalt call me Ishi, (my hus- 
band,) and shalt call me no more Baali, (my 
lord ;") and he gave this reason, " I will take away 
the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they 
shall no more be remembered by their name," (ii. 
1 6, 17 ;) an intimation of the attachment of a sym- 
bolical sense to ordinary names. In the same con- 
nection, God, by His prophet, promises to "give 
the valley of Achor for a door of hope," with 
an allusion to the meaning of Achor which has 
been previously noticed. And the prophet Micah, 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 355 

who lived at the same time with Isaiah and 
Hosea, in the first chapter of his prophecy avails 
himself of the meaning of the names of several 
places to mark the events which he was commis- 
sioned to foretell. Putting these circumstances to- 
gether, it will be found that the evidence arising 
from the use of sacramental names is in favour of 
the composition of the latter portions of the book 
ascribed to Isaiah by an inspired writer contem- 
porary with Hosea and Micah, who could be no 
other than Isaiah, the great prophet of Judah. 

In the book of Jeremiah we find an example of 
the pronunciation of an anathema on an indivi- 
dual by the imposition of an emblematical name. 
When Pashur, the chief governor of the temple, had 
insulted Jeremiah by smiting him and putting him 
in the stocks, the prophet, on the morrow, having 
received instructions from God, said unto him, 
" The Lord hath not called thy name Pashur, but 
Magor-missabib, (fear all around.) For thus saith 
the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thy- 
self and to all thy friends" (xx. 3, 4.) It is not, of 
course, meant that thenceforward Pashur would be 
called by the name Magor-missabib ; but he, and 
all who heard the prophet's words, would not fail 
to remember ever after that the curse implied in 
this fearful name was inseparably attached to him, 
identified with his personality. The expression 



356 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

appears to have been in ordinary use to denote the 
condition of a person, or people, hopelessly aban- 
doned to alarms and dangers. It is thus employed 
by David in Ps. xxxi. 13, and by the prophet 
Jeremiah concerning himself, in his complaint 
immediately following the denunciation against 
Pashur, (Jer. xx. 10.) It is found in one of his 
earlier prophecies describing the distress of Judah 
during the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, (vi. 25,) 
and in a later, which foretells the defeat of the 
Egyptians by the same monarch, (xlvi. 5.) And 
it is evidently represented as a panic cry in xlix. 
29 : " They shall cry unto them, Fear (is) on 
every side/' A phrase which had probably become 
conventional, as the description of the very ex- 
tremity of terror and despair, was now, in the 
person of Pashur, riveted to the character of the 
persecutor of the saints of God. It fearfully illus- 
trated the warning, " Touch not my anointed, 
and do my prophets no harm ; " and its terrible 
import has been accurately illustrated in the history 
of other notorious persecutors, under both the 
Jewish and Christian dispensations. 

In the Gospel age we find some eminent, 

though not numerous, examples of the employment 

of proper names for the purpose of recording some 

t truth, or representing some Divine blessing 

conferred, for the sake of the Church, upon certain 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 357 

individuals. In the very introduction of the Gos- 
pel a name was selected by God himself for the 
great prophet in whom the series of Old Testa- 
ment ministrations and disclosures were to end, 
and the first manifestation of the glories of the 
new covenant was to be revealed. When the 
angel announced to the priest Zacharias the ap- 
proaching birth of the son whom his wife Eliza- 
beth should bear to him in his old age, he instructed 
him to call his name John. This was a well-known 
and ordinary name which had been borne by seve- 
ral persons noticed in the Old Testament histories, 
under the form Johanan ; and, as we have before 
shown, identical in meaning with the name Han- 
aniah, or Ananias. But it was most suitable to 
denote the nature of the mission of the Baptist, 
to mark the epoch now opening to the Church, 
and the world, which it was his office and minis- 
try to inaugurate. The expression, " Jehovah 
hath granted grace," or " shewn favour," might 
indeed, if adopted by his parents as the name for 
their late-born child, have denoted merely their 
sense of the goodness of God in granting their 
earnest desire and prayer for a son. But, as chosen 
by God, and imposed at the same time with other 
symbolical and significant injunctions, and accom- 
panied with illustrative words of promise, we can- 
not but discern in it an announcement of the exhi- 



358 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

bition of the grace and favour of Jehovah to His 
people Israel, with which this "prophet of the High- 
est n was to be charged. The hymn of praise uttered 
by his father Zacharias, apparently on the occasion 
of the naming of the child, takes for its key-note 
the sentiment of the name, " Blessed be the Lord 
God (Jehovah the God) of Israel, for he hath 
visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised 
up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his 
servant David/' (Luke i. 68, 69.) And the ex- 
pectations which the Evangelist tells us were 
awakened concerning him by the events attendant 
upon his birth would, according to the Hebrew 
practice, find their expression in the name to which 
the attention of a large circle of friends and neigh- 
bours had been called in so marked a manner, and 
which had immediately proved, under the inspira- 
tion of the Holy Spirit, so suggestive of "good 
things to come." Those expectations had their 
fulfilment in the characteristic proclamation of his 
ministry, which defined the nature of " the grace 
of Jehovah," of which his name was the token and 
pledge : — " The kingdom of heaven is at hand." 
Ci Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the 
sins of the world." 

But the greatest of all names ever given after or 
before a human birth, the " name which is above 
every name/ 1 that " to which every knee shall bow," 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 359 

is strictly sacramental. It was announced to Mary, 
the destined mother of the Messiah, and to Joseph, 
her espoused husband, that the name of her mys- 
terious offspring should be Jesus. And to this in- 
junction, as communicated to Joseph, the reason 
for the name was added, " for He shall save His 
people from their sins." Jesus, as we have seen 
above, is the same with Joshua, the full meaning 
of which is "Jehovah (is) Saviour." And the 
choice of the name is declared in the angelic mes- 
sage to have reference to the character and office 
of Him who was to bear it. By it attention is 
fixed upon the great object of His coming into the 
world, — salvation, and that from sin, spiritual sal- 
vation, the salvation of the souls of men from 
wickedness and guilt, their entire deliverance from 
the consequences of the fall, and therefore not 
only present, but future, final, everlasting salvation. 
It will be observed that, in the words of the angel 
explaining the purport of the name, allusion is 
especially made only to that part of the word 
which means " Saviour." This may serve to 
impress upon our minds the fact that, as is ex- 
pressed by His human name, so actually in His 
human nature, our Lord is the Saviour of man- 
kind ; that His manifestation as a real man among 
men is for our salvation. For his humanity was 
essential to atonement by sacrifice \ since only in 



360 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

human nature could He suffer and die. His ov. . 
personal action in effecting our salvation is, there- 
fore, more plainly intimated than if the full inter- 
pretation of the name had been given, " The Lord 
(or Jehovah) shall save His people from their sins." 
But it is remarkable that, as a comment explana- 
tory of this announcement of the angel, and evi- 
dently as its parallel, or equivalent, the Evangelist 
adduces the words of the prophet when foretelling 
the birth of the Messiah, "They shall call his 
name Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is God 
with us." Here we find the idea introduced which 
makes up the full significance of the word Jesus, 
or Jehoshua, "Jehovah (is) Saviour." He who is 
"with us," to " save His people from their sins," is 
God. We are entitled, therefore, to recognize in the 
name Jesus the expression of the truth that, in 
Him who was so called, Jehovah, personally, has 
become the Saviour. 

Joshua, as the name given to the captain of 
Israel, might indeed mean that Jehovah was the 
real Saviour, who employed him as His instrument; 
and Emmanuel, if a name given to a man, might 
simply mean that in his time, or through his agency, 
God would make His presence to be known among 
His people. But it is the nature of symbolical 
names used sacramentally to possess a developable 
significance. They are capable of a lower or higher 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 361 

sense, according to their relation or appropriation. 
This we have noticed in the case of the names 
Abraham, Sarah, and especially Israel. It may be 
instanced in St Paul's treatment of the names Lo- 
ammi and Lo-ruhamah, given by the prophet Hosea 
to his children, to indicate God's dealings with the 
Jewish people, but applied by the apostle to the 
Church of the Gentiles. By analogy, the names 
Jesus and Emmanuel, as belonging to Him who is 
the manifestation of God to man, are to be under- 
stood in their highest, which is, in fact, their origi- 
nal and most literal sense, " Jehovah, Saviour," 
" God with us." 

As, therefore, the official or titular name, Christ, 
declares the fulfilment in Him of all the great pro- 
phecies which announced the coming of the king- 
dom of the Lord's Anointed, the Messiah, so the 
personal name Jesus combines in itself the glory of 
His Godhead, the wonder of His incarnation, the 
reality of His humanity, the efficacy of His sacrifi- 
cial death, " the power of His resurrection." It is, 
indeed, a Symbol of the Faith, a comprehensive 
Creed, and the Gospel in a word. 

The surnames which our Lord gave to some of 
His disciples may be compared to the additional 
names which were given to Jacob and Solomon. 
They were honourable titles expressive of charac- 
ter ; that is, of the peculiar grace of God bestowed 



362 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

upon those who received them. " Simon He sur- 
named Peter, which is, by interpretation, a stone," 
or, rather, a "rock." This name He gave him when 
first introduced to Him by his brother Andrew. 
But He solemnly confirmed it when He ordained 
the twelve as apostles, and sent them out on their 
first mission ; and He afterwards signalized its 
sacramental character when He attached to it the 
promise of the sure foundation and perpetual sta- 
bility of His Church. Peter, on that occasion, by 
his inspired recognition of the full claims of his 
Master and Lord, and by his energetic declaration 
of them, was the representative of the Apostolic 
faith and the Apostolic ministry. And, therefore, 
his surname, involving his personal character, office, 
and action, was selected as the symbol of the " foun- 
dation of the apostles and prophets," upon which 
Christ intended His Church to be built, " Himself 
being the chief corner-stone." 

By the surname " Boanerges," appropriated to the 
brothers James and John, and interpreted "sons of 
thunder," our Lord evidently meant to characterize 
the energy and efficacy of the ministrations of those 
two apostles. The word has become proverbial in 
its application to those who possess special powers 
for awakening and alarming the consciences of sin- 
ners, and proclaiming the terrors of that wrath which, 
even under the Gospel, is " revealed from heaven, 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 363 

against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men 
who hold the truth in unrighteousness." It desig- 
nates a class of ministers, and ministrations, of which 
the Church and the world still have need. 

The second Simon among the apostles is called 
the Cananite. This word is improperly in our 
version printed Canaanite, as if it meant a person 
belonging to the old Canaanitish race, whereas it 
is certain that it has not that sense, and most pro- 
bably is to be understood as u a man of Cana," an 
inhabitant of the town so named. This town was 
in Galilee, and not far distant from the other places 
to which the rest of the apostles belonged by birth 
and residence ; and we know that our Lord had 
friends there ; so that it is very natural that one of 
its inhabitants should be numbered among His 
chief followers. But St Luke in his Gospel, and 
in the Acts, calls him Simon Zelotes, (the zealous.) 
using the word Zelotes evidently as equivalent to 
Cananite. Now, the town Cana, the Kanah of Josh. 
xix. 28, originally meaning " a place of reeds,'"' has 
in Hebrew nearly the same sound and the same 
letters as the word for u zeal.' ; Hence, in conformity 
with the Hebrew usage, already noticed, of inter- 
changing words of approximate sound, though dif- 
ferent derivation, a man who was called Cananite, 
or Canani, because he was of Cana, might have 
the same term applied to him in the sense of 



364 SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 

" zealous/' It is not improbable that our Lord, 
who had given other surnames, Himself authorized 
this modification of the meaning of the word; thus 
converting a mere local attributive, used to dis- 
tinguish this Simon from others, into a title of 
honour, expressing an important characteristic of 
an apostle and minister of the gospel. 

The surnames given by our Lord to these dis- 
ciples, like the names of a similar kind, previously 
considered, could not fail to remind their possessors 
continually of the qualities in themselves which 
they represented, and of the qualifications which 
these formed for the work which their Master had 
given them to do. They would be testimonies of 
special grace already bestowed, and pledges of its 
increase. They would be, in their case, incentives 
to watchfulness and fidelity, and the exercise of 
the gift that was in them. Other apostles and dis- 
ciples of the Lord had not peculiar designations 
divinely bestowed, nor can any have them now; 
but all may learn from these what the. ministers 
and followers of Christ ought to be — firm in the 
maintenance and profession of the truth as it is in 
Jesus, bold in its announcement, and earnestly and 
actively devoted to the work of its propagation. 

And from the value and uses of proper names 
sacramentally conferred upon a few we may under- 
stand what ought to be the import to ourselves, 



SACRAMENTAL NAMES. 365 

and the influence upon our daily life, of the com- 
mon name, belonging to the same class, which we 
have all inherited by our birth, and which we claim 
and assume in our baptism, — the name of Christian. 
Given, in the first instance, by heathens and unbe- 
lievers to the members of the Church at Antioch, 
as a name which most aptly and accurately ex- 
pressed their character as " epistles of Christ known 
and read of all men," indicating their open acknow- 
ledgment of Him, and the personality of the object 
of their faith, and love, and service, it was, under 
Divine direction, adopted by believers generally as 
witnessing their confession, and a symbol of their 
allegiance to their one Master and Lord, and of their 
federal union with each other in Him. The name 
is no longer among us so distinctive as at its origin, 
and in the nominal Church has almost lost its signifi- 
cance ; but that is no reason why each should not 
employ it to remind himself of his own discipleship, 
and of the principle on which he should recognize 
that of his brethren. 

Let us apply to ourselves the test suggested by 
the original imposition of the name, and ask whether 
we are so living in the world, so confessing Christ 
before men, that if those among whom we dwell 
were of other religions, and our religion had not a 
name, all would, with one consent, give us and our 
religion the title of Christian. 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 




SS FEW Hebrew proper names require to 



be noticed, belonging to classes less 
numerous, or less important, than those 
which have hitherto formed subjects of separate 
discussion. 

Perhaps the most prominent of these, and the 
most considerable for number, are the names com- 
pounded with the word Ab, Father. In Oriental 
phraseology, especially among the Semitic races, 
the word "father" is extensively employed to 
denote cause, origin, ownership, headship, or high 
superiority. Thus, in Gen. iv., Jabal is termed 
the father of pastoral people, Jubal of musicians, 
Tubal-Cain of metal-workers. One of the names 
given to our Lord in prophecy by Isaiah, (ix. 6,) is 
" the Father of Eternity/' God is called u Father 
of lights," and u Father of mercies," and Satan 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 367 

"the father of lying" Many, perhaps most, of the 
proper names beginning with Ab, or Abi, may be 
interpreted upon this principle, but it will not 
apply to all. Names, for instance, in which Ab is 
compounded with the name of God will not admit 
of it; Abiah or Abijah must be "(whose) father 
(is) Jehovah :" Abi-hu "(whose) father (is) He" — 
i.e., God. Xor can the names of females beginning 
with Abi be thus explained, without the supposi- 
tion of a very forced and extravagant employment 
of the idiom. We can hardly understand how a 
woman can be called "father of joy," whatever 
figurative sense may be ascribed to the word 
"father." In such cases, and some others, the 
second word is probably in its original form verbal 
or participial, or is to be understood as connected 
with the first word by the suppressed substantive- 
verb "is," as in such words as Abijah, "'father (is) 
Jehovah." 

Some interpreters of Hebrew names are of 
opinion that Ab may be frequently used as a pos- 
sessive — that is, as meaning "father's," and so 
solve the difficulty arising from female names \ for, 
of course, a girl might be named " the fathers 
joy." But it is entirely contrary to the usage of 
the language, when two words are in this construc- 
tion, to place the word which is to be employed in 
the possessive sense before the other. It may be 



368 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

urged that an instance of such a collocation is 
found in the name Eliam, since the person so 
called is named in another place Ammiel, which 
is the same word reversed ; so that if Eliam 
means " God of the people," and Ammiel has 
the same meaning, a word in the possessive case — 
am — is in the latter form placed before that with 
which it is in construction. But it is highly pro- 
bable that this word Ammiel, even when translated 
according to strict grammatical principles, was 
understood to express the same relation between 
God and His- people as the word Eliam. " God of 
the people" and "people of God" are comple- 
mentary phrases ; the idea of one not only suggest- 
ing but necessitating that of the other. And it is 
entirely consistent with the Hebrew practice in 
regard to proper names that these should be inter- 
changeable. 

Applying the various modes of interpretation 
which have been explained, we may instance, as an 
example of the first, the word Absalom, which also 
is found in the form Abishalom, and is to be ren- 
dered " father of peace." The name was given by 
David to his third son born at Hebron during the 
seven years of his reign over Judah. It may mark 
the period of his birth as a time when he expected 
peace to be established, or when he had obtained 
some great success , " peace " often meaning pros- 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 369 

perity. It is remarkable that the mother of 
Absalom was daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur, 
a country on which David had long before, during 
the reign of Saul, inflicted grievous injuries by war ; 
so that the name of this son may signalize the 
establishment of peace between Talmai and David, 
and express a hope that his birth might cement 
the alliance and render it perpetual. Or the name 
may be understood as implying David's desire and 
prayer on behalf of his child that he might prove 
distinguished for the peaceableness of his cha- 
racter, and the peacefulness of his times. If so, it 
is one of the instances, which are by no means 
few, of a singular contradiction of a name by the 
conduct and history of its possessor. For this was 
the son through whom the curse of bloodshed and 
war came upon the family of David which had been 
pronounced by the prophet Nathan on account of 
David's great sin in the matter of Uriah. He slew 
his brother Amnon, rebelled against his father, 
drawing all Israel into revolt, and perished 
miserably in battle. 

Abimelech is a name which occurs very early as 
that of a king of the Philistines who had various 
transactions with Abraham, and of another king 
of the same people similarly connected with 
the history of Isaac. These were probably 
father and son ; and the name, which may mean 

2 A 



370 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES, 

" father of the king," or " (whose) father is 
king," if used, as is most likely, in the 
latter sense, would denote royal parentage, and 
perhaps presumptive heirship, or right of suc- 
cession to the throne ; or it may have been 
the regal name always borne by these Philis- 
tine kings, intimating lineal order of succession ; 
for we find it in the superscription to Ps. xxxiv. 
ascribed to a king of Gath who, in the history, has 
the name of Achish. The only Israelite certainly 
known to have had this name was the son of 
Gideon, notorious for his usurpation, fratricidal 
cruelty, and tyranny. If born, as is most probable, 
after his father had been elevated to the office of 
chief magistrate, on account of his victory over the 
Midianites, this name, which we are expressly told 
his father set or appointed for him, may mark that 
fact. It is singular that, on occasion of Gideon's 
success, the men of Israel had offered him the 
sovereignty, as the founder of a dynasty : " Rule 
thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son's 
son also." But Gideon had rejected the offer, say- 
ing, " I will not rule over you, neither shall my son 
rule over you." If Abimelech was born soon after 
this event, which happened forty years before his 
fathers death, the name would seem to have been 
selected by Gideon to record not only his accession 
to regal power, but his right, if he had chosen to 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 37 1 

assert it, to a regal title. And it would thus serve 
to remind the turbulent and fickle people over 
whom he ruled, both of their offer of royalty and 
of his moderation in declining to accept it. The 
imposition of the name with such a meaning and 
object is rendered increasingly probable by the fact 
that Gideon himself had very recently received a 
second name, Jerubbaal, (let Baal plead,) from his 
father, arising out of an incident in his own life 
which that name was certainly intended to com- 
memorate, with a view to the correction of the 
evil propensities of the people. And we may 
observe that, in this case, it is only the explanation 
of the name given in the history that enables us 
to understand its real significance. Without the 
information thus supplied we might easily con- 
strue it as honourable instead of disgraceful to Baal. 
So the name Abimelech, which, if we knew that 
it had reference to a family and national event, 
might, in ignorance of further facts, be supposed to 
mean that Gideon was really chosen and called 
king, may very well be understood, from the known 
circumstances, to signify the popular desire and 
offer, as well as Gideon's virtual acquisition of the 
monarchy. 

Abiathar, who was united with Zadok in the 
office of the high priesthood during David's reign, 
is once (i Chron. xviii. 16) called Abimelech, and 



372 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

often by the name of his father, Ahimelech. By 
Josephus his name is always written Abimelech ; 
and the father is sometimes called Abiathar. The 
confusion between these names is probably due to 
copyists, and may have arisen from the circum- 
stance of either father or son having been called 
by both. The name Abiathar is interpreted by 
Simonis to mean "(whose) father is left" — i.e., 
" survives ; " the death of the mother being im- 
plied. The verb to which its last syllable belongs 
signifies " to remain," "to be left;" but hence 
also " to abound," " to excel." So that the name 
may have the sense " father of abundance," or 
"whose father is pre-eminent" — i.e., is in high 
station. In the last sense it would be a suitable 
name for a child born after his father's succession 
to the high priesthood. 

Abinadab, the name of a son of Jesse, and 
brother of David, and also of a son of Saul, and 
others, contains in the word nadab an allusion 
either to the character of the father as " liberal 
and gracious," or to his condition as noble ; for the 
word nadab, beginning with the notion of spontan- 
eity, or free will, comes to express, in various forms, 
liberality in giving, and nobility of mind, or descent. 
A name thus complimentary to the father would be 
chosen, like many which have been mentioned, 
either by the mother, or by friends and attendants 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 373 

present at the birth. And it would probably record 
some family occurrence which testified the conju- 
gal or paternal affection of the head of the house- 
hold \ perhaps some act of liberality towards the 
mother, or the new-born child. This sense of the 
word is recommended, rather than that which re- 
fers to the fathers rank or station, by its affinity with 
Amminadab, a name in which am, "people/' has 
the same relation as ab to nadab. Now, Ammina- 
dab may fairly be interpreted by the words of Ps.. 
ex. : " Thy people shall be willing," (/. e. spontane- 
ously offer gifts, or offer themselves,) " in the day 
of thy power," a passage in which these words for 
"people "and "willing'" occur in close conjunc- 
tion. A similar corroboration is found in Canticles 
vi. 12, where Amminadib, given in the text of our 
version as a proper name, is translated in the 
margin, " my willing people." And this same word 
nadab is that which is used in Isa. xxxii. 8 : " The 
liberal deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things 
shall he stand f and in v. 6 : " The churl (iiabal) 
shall no more be called liberal (nadib)" where it is 
evidently placed in contrast with the word nabal, 
its opposite, which we know was a proper name. 
Such a name as Amminadab, which was that of 
the father-in-law of Aaron, head of the tribe of 
Judah while in Egypt, would therefore, most pro- 
bably, mark an act of liberality, or spontaneous 



374 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

respect on the part of the tribe towards their chief. 
For the word am may mean " tribe," or " kindred/'* 
as well as " nation." 

It will be borne in mind that, although the 
origin of the names Abinadab and Amminadab 
may be found in such transactions as have been 
suggested, it is not necessary to suppose that in 
their adoption afterwards any similar occurrences 
are implied. A name once invented, and introduced 
into a family, might be repeated, as amongst our- 
selves, without any special reference to its actual 
meaning. 

Abner, the name of Saul's cousin, and com- 
mander-in-chief of his army, is rendered by some 
" father of light." Ner, however, does not mean 
light in the abstract, but " a light," " a lamp ;" a 
very unlikely word to be compounded with Ab in 
this relation. But as Ner was the name of Abner's 
father, the word Abner may be taken to mean 
" (whose) father (is) Ner." It will in this case be 
a name similar to those in which in later times Bar 
was prefixed to the father's name to form that of 
the son, as Bar-timeus, Bar-jesus. No doubt, such 
compounds were, in most instances, additions to 
the actual name, to distinguish the individual from 
others of the same name, as Bar-jona, son of Jonah, 
added to Simon. But the proper name has some 
times been superseded by the surname, as in Barti- 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 375 

meus and Bar-jesus ; and this may have been the 
case with Abner. The significance of Ner as a 
proper name is clearly pointed out by the meta- 
phorical use of the word in several passages to 
represent the perpetuation of the line of succession 
in a family, as in Kings xv. 4, " For David's sake 
did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem 
to set up his son after him ;" and in Ps. cxxxii. 17, 
" I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed." So, 
in the parable of the woman of Tekoah, (2 Sam. 
xiv. 7,) "my coal that is left" means an only sur- 
viving son. When, therefore, the name Ner was 
given to a child, it denoted, at least originally, that 
in him, or in his generation, there was a prospect 
of the stability and continuance of the family. 

The word occurs compounded with Jah, in Neriah, 
the name of the father of Baruch, the amanuensis 
of the prophet Jeremiah. This name may mean 
" (whose) lamp (is) Jehovah," like Urijah, " (whose) 
light (is) Jehovah," or Uriel, " (whose) light is 
God;" but it may express the thankfulness of a 
parent on the birth of a son in whom he hopes his 
line will be perpetuated, and in this sense will be 
" a lamp from Jehovah." 

The signification above ascribed to Abner is 
corroborated by the name of another person fre- 
quently mentioned in the same part of sacred his- 
tory, and belonging to a contemporaneous rival 



376 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

family. The name of the father of David was 
Jesse as we read it, but Ishai according to the 
Hebrew spelling and pronunciation. Now, the 
second son of his daughter Zeruiah was called 
Abishai, a word most readily explained as com- 
pounded of Ab and Ishai, and as meaning " (whose) 
father (is) Ishai." In this case "father" is used 
as elsewhere, to denote " grandfather." It is re- 
markable that whenever the parentage of any of 
Zeruiah's children is referred to they are always 
called " sons of Zeruiah," and their father is never 
mentioned. Asahel, the youngest son, who was 
killed by Abner, is said indeed to be buried in the 
sepulchre of his father ; but as it is expressly noted 
that he was born in Bethlehem, the city where Jesse 
dwelt, it is probable that by his father is meant his 
grandfather. We may infer from these circum- 
stances that Zeruiah married a man of inferior con- 
dition to that of her own family ; and this may ac- 
count for the name of her son Abishai, which would 
serve as a constant record of the honourable descent 
to which he and his brothers could lay claim by 
their mother's side. 

The names of the females beginning with the 
word Ab, or father, must be interpreted on the 
same principle as that applied to the last two names. 
Thus, Abigail, the name of another sister of David, 
and of his wife, formerly wife of Nabal, is to be 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 377 

rendered, " (whose) father rejoiceth," and under- 
stood as commemorating the joy of the father on 
the birth of a daughter. A son was usually de- 
sired by an Israelitish husband ; but in the case of 
Jesse, who had eight sons, we can readily imagine 
that, after the birth of several male children, a 
daughter would be desired and welcomed. The 
name of the other daughter, Zeruiah, " balsam from 
Jehovah," seems to imply a similar sentiment of one 
or other of the parents. 

Another wife of David was called Abital, 
" (whose) father (is as) dew." In the figurative 
language of Scripture poetry, dew often represents 
blessing, beneficence, refreshment, consolation; and 
in this sense it may be understood in such a name. 
Or its significance, when thus used, may be found 
in the early appearance and rapid evanescence of 
dew, (Hos. vi. 4, xiii. 3 ;) and so it may intimate 
the death of a young husband, perhaps before the 
birth of a child. It is singular that the word tal 
is also combined with Nam, " father-in-law," in the 
word Hamutal, the name of the "wife of Josiah, 
king of Judah, and daughter of one Jeremiah of 
Libnah. In this case the word Ha7n would neces- 
sarily refer to the father of one of the child's pa- 
rents, and in all probability to its maternal grand- 
father, who" would, of course, be the father-in-law 
of its father. The name, then, we must suppose 



37§ MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

given by the father in honour of his father-in-law, 
from whom he may have received some consider- 
able benefit, or who may have been a person dis- 
tinguished for his kind and beneficent conduct 
generally. The formation of such a phrase, and 
its employment as a name, cannot but appear 
strange to our minds ; and perhaps the account 
given of it may be deemed unsatisfactory. But no 
other meaning than that above stated can be as- 
cribed, on sound grammatical principles, to each 
of the words of which it is composed. And the 
only alternative in their construction which can be 
admitted presents us with a sense still more difficult 
of acceptation ; for we can hardly imagine any no- 
tion that could be metaphorically expressed by the 
words " father-in-law of dew," or any reason for 
devising such a combination as a name for a male 
child, while it would be, beyond question, perfectly 
absurd for a female. 

Abishag, the name of the Shunammite woman, 
selected as the nurse and cherisher of David's old 
age, is another example of this class of names. 
The word, interpreted like the others, means 
" (whose) father is in error." Such a name is to 
be accounted for by the fact that the mother very 
frequently named the new-born child, and by such 
is as Benoni, Ichabod, and Jabez, in which a 
mother recorded by a child's name the peculiar 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 



o/' 



sorrows which were attendant upon its birth. This 
name looks like a wife's register of domestic un- 
happiness, arising from the waywardness, ill-treat- 
ment, or faithlessness of her husband. It may. how- 
ever, be an allusion to trouble of a different kind, 
the father's absence as a wanderer or an exile. 

Ach, brother, written in our version Ah, forms 
part of many names, and in several is compounded 
with the same words which, in other cases, are 
found united with Ab, father. Thus we have Ahi- 
melech, Ahijah, Ahinadab, Ahinoam. In most of 
the names of this class Ach may be understood in 
its literal meaning, generally with some domestic 
allusion. Ahab, son of Omri, the notoriously 
wicked king of Israel, has his name, u fathers 
brother," probably from personal resemblance to 
that relative. We find also Ahiam in the list of 
David's chief captains, which means u mother's 
brother.'"' The supposition that such names origi- 
nated in the observed likeness of the child to an 
uncle is corroborated by the frequency with which 
the name of an uncle is given to a boy, a practice • 
which is observed by Lipsius, a great authority on 
this subject, to have prevailed among the Romans. 

Ahinadab, one of Solomon's twelve tribal pre- 
fects, may have received this name, if we follow 
the interpretation offered for Abinadab, from some 
kind and generous act of an elder brother, but very 



380 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

possibly an act quite of a childish character, for we 
know that circumstances apparently trivial often 
suggested names ; and parental and family affec- 
tion gives an importance to the sayings and doings 
of children quite sufficient to account for their in- 
fluence in the determination of the name of the 
youngest member of the household. 

A similar explanation may be given of the word 
Ahitub, recorded in i Sam. xiv. as the name of the 
father of Ahimelech, who was high priest in the 
reign of Saul. This word, as we read it, means 
" brother of goodness/' which is, perhaps, equiva- 
lent to " good brother," but, as read by the Greek 
translators, who wrote it Ahitob, may mean either 
"good brother," or ("whose) brother is good." 
Ahitub is said to have been " Ichabod's brother," 
and was therefore the son of Phinehas, the unwor- 
thy son of Eli the high priest, and necessarily the 
elder brother of Ichabod, whose mother died at his 
birth. His name, also, whether we understand it 
as " good brother," or (" whose) brother is good," 
denotes that he, too, had a brother older than him- 
self. The designation of this Ahitub as " Icha- 
bod's brother" is very remarkable ; for we hear no- 
thing of Ichabod after his birth, and he was the 
junior of Ahitub. But it is explained by a fact 
disclosed to us in the second book of Samuel, 
(viil 17,) and attested by the registers in the first 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 381 

book of Chronicles. It appears that Zadok, the 
descendant of Eleazar, son of Aaron, who held the 
office of high priest after the death of Ahimelech, 
in conjunction with Ahimelech's son, was also the 
son of a person called Ahitub. Hence the Ahitub 
of the line of Aaron through Ithamar, who was 
father to Ahimelech, is described as " Ichabod ; s 
brother," to distinguish him from the other Ahitub 
of the same generation and of the collateral line of 
Eleazar. Thus the later passages explain the sin- 
gular and otherwise unaccountable insertion in the 
earlier \ and the earlier passages prove the historic 
accuracy of the later. 

The name Ahimoth occurs in a Levitical gene- 
alogy in 1 Chron. vi. The word means "brother 
of death," or (" whose) brother (is) death," and is 
thought with good reason to indicate the death of 
a twin brother, or the fact that one of twin chil- 
dren was still-born. Aharah, or rather Achrach, 
a name in one of the perplexing genealogies of 
Benjamin, which can only be interpreted " after 
(his) brother," seems also a likely name for the 
second born of twins, quite in keeping with the 
narrative of the birth of Pharez and Zarah, the sons 
of Judah, (Gen. xxxviii. 28-30.) Our marginal 
references identify this person with Ehi, and Ahi- 
ram, of the same family, Ehi may mean "my 
brother,"' and Ahiram, (Num. xxvi. 38.) is "brother 



382 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

of height" — i.e., "exalted," or "illustrious brother;" 
names which undoubtedly may have been varia- 
tions of the birth-name Aharah. 
' Ahinoam would reasonably be rendered "brother 
of pleasantness/' in the sense of " pleasing or dear 
brother," but that in both instances of its occur- 
rence it is the name of a female. The wife of 
Saul was Ahinoam ; and Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess, 
was one of David's wives, and the mother of his 
first-born son, Amnon. The parallel word Abin- 
oam forms a man's name, being that of the father 
of Barak, one of the heroes of the book of Judges. 
If the Hebrew idiom of construction, in the case of 
words thus connected, would permit us to consider 
the first word a possessive, these names would be 
" brother's delight," " father's delight," and appli- 
cable equally to a male and female infant \ but since 
no sufficient reason exists for the exception of words 
combined in a proper name from the general rule 
of combination, we must attribute to the second 
word, 110am, a verbal sense, and interpret at least 
Ahinoam ("whose) brother is pleasant," or "is 
dear." Extreme partiality of affection exhibited by 
a very young infant for a brother, — a domestic phe- 
nomenon by no means unusual, — may be conjec- 
tured as a feasible origin for such a name. 

Ahimelech, "brother of the king," is an example 
of names in which Ach (Alii) is employed figura- 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 383 

tively, in the sense of friend or companion. Such 
a name would be given to an infant to signalize the 
relation existing at the time of his birth between 
his father and the reigning monarch. Hence, if it 
was the birth-name of the high priest in the latter 
part of the reign of Saul, the first king of Israel, it 
would be necessary to suppose him to have been 
born after Saul's elevation to the kingdom. If so, 
Ahiah, repeatedly mentioned as high priest in the 
early part of the reign, would not be, as the mar- 
ginal notes assert, the same as Ahimelech, but his 
father. And it agrees with the general state of 
things, and Saul's peculiar circumstances at the 
beginning of his reign, that he should be on very 
friendly terms with the high priest, who was pro- 
bably in close alliance with Samuel. Hence we 
must understand the word son in Ahimelech' s fre- 
quent addition, " son of Ahitub," to mean grand- 
son. The chronology of Saul's forty years' reign, 
and Samuel's previous long administration, is en- 
tirely favourable to this supposition; for there is 
ample time for a lineal succession of three high 
priests between Phinehas, who died when Samuel 
was very young, and Abiathar, who succeeded to 
the office at the death of his father Ahimelech late 
in Saul's reign. But in this case each of these 
high priests, Ahitub, Ahiah, and Ahimelech, must 
have died before reaching middle life — a fact sup- 



384 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

plying a remarkable confirmation of the truth of the 
history • for thus the curse recorded in 1 Sam. ii. 
to have been pronounced upon the family of Eli 
'would be remarkably fulfilled in the representa- 
tives of his house for four generations, beginning 
with his son Phinehas : " There shall not be an 
old man in thine house. All the increase of thine 
house shall die in the flower of their age." If, 
however, it should be necessary to adhere to the 
strictly literal meaning of the designation, " son Of 
Ahitub," it is conceivable that Ahiah, (friend of 
Jehovah,) acquired the name Ahimelech, "friend 
of the king," from the intimacy which subsisted 
between him and Saul during the former part of 
his reign ; a circumstance which would extremely 
aggravate Saul's cruelty in perpetrating the mas- 
sacre of Ahimelech and his family on suspicion of 
their favouring David as his rival. 

Among the names which are contradictory to 
the characters of the persons who bore them is 
to be placed Ahitophel, the name of the wisest of 
David's counsellors \ for the word means " brother 
of foolishness." But whether a reference was made 
in the name to the supposed imbecility of the 
person himself when an infant, or to the con- 
duct or mental state of another member of the 
family, must remain uncertain. Many instances 
are recorded of the early dulness of those who have 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 385 

developed into extraordinary geniuses. And if this 
man, so renowned for his political sagacity, showed 
symptoms of intellectual deficiency in childhood, it 
would be quite natural to Hebrew parents or rela- 
tives to give him a name which may be interpreted 
as " akin to — neighbour to — folly." But whatever 
may have been the indication of his early life signi- 
fied by his name, it certainly suggests an important 
moral when considered in connection with the 
closing events of his career, of which alone an ac- 
count is given in Scripture. Ahitophel, in his old 
age, betrayed the master whom he had so long 
served, and deserted the sovereign who had treated 
him as his friend and companion, becoming the 
chief abettor of the rebellion of his unnatural son, 
and the most active agent in the attempt to effect 
his dethronement and destruction. The result to 
himself was speedy disappointment, and utter ruin. 
He soon discovered that he had chosen the weaker 
side, and engaged in a desperate enterprise ; and 
the last proof of his worldly wisdom was shown in 
that clear undoubting foresight of the issue of the 
rebellion, which induced him to choose death by 
his own hand, as the least of the evils which lay 
before him. The prevailing motive of his revolt 
has been variously conjectured, Perhaps it was 
ambition — the vice of statesmen, or avarice — the 
vice of old age. Or it may have been revenge : for 

2 B 



o 



86 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 



he was the grandfather of Bathsheba, in whose per- 
son David had dishonoured his family. But what- 
ever the motive, it was a bad one, and it over- 
powered and overthrew his wisdom. It is seen, 
then, by his example, that the wisest and most 
experienced of men may, through the influence of 
passion, or evil desires, prove himself, after all, to be 
the " brother of folly/' and that, not only morally, 
but intellectually. He may be led into fatal crime, 
and into what one of our modem Ahitophels has 
declared to be worse than a crime, — a mistake, not- 
withstanding all his knowledge and sagacity, by 
yielding to the temptations addressed to the unsub- 
dued corruptions of his nature. 

Some such thoughts as these, we have reason to 
believe, would be suggested to the mind of many 
an Israelite by the signification of the name of 
Ahitophel, taken in connection with his character 
and conduct ; and they may therefore be legiti- 
mately employed by ourselves in endeavouring to 
learn the lessons taught by so much of his history 
as is disclosed in the Bible. The consideration of 
two passages from the records of nearly the same 
epoch will suffice to show that we do not arbi- 
trarily and fancifully attribute to the Hebrews of 
tli at age such etymological observations, or the habit 
of making such uses of the meaning of names. 

When Naomi, accompanied by her daughter-in- 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 387 

law, Ruth, returned to Bethlehem in widowhood 
and poverty, after her long exile in the land of 
Moab, " all the city/' we read, " was moved about 
them, and they (the women) said, Is this Naomi? 
iVnd she said, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara : 
for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. 
I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me 
home again empty : why then call ye me Naomi, 
seeing the Lord hath testified against me V 1 Evi- 
dently the reiteration of her name, as she was met 
by one after another of her former acquaintances, 
gave occasion to reflection on its meaning, and to 
the contrast which it offered to her present condi- 
tion. In the margin of our Bibles it is interpreted 
" pleasant ;" and the English reader perceives in 
her comment upon it, and upon the name which 
she demands for her own in substitution for it, 
merely the opposition of the ideas " pleasant " and 
"•bitter," — that is, "prosperous" and "afflicted." 
But a close examination of the name, and of her lan- 
guage, proves that she deduced from it the whole of 
her complaint, the characteristic sentiment of which 
is brought out in strong relief by its full etymology. 
For the termination i in this word, as in most of 
similar construction, is, as has been previously ex- 
plained, an abbreviated form of the name Jehovah, 
or Jah; so that Naomi means "pleasantness of Je- 
hovah." We see, then, the point of her repeated 



388 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

ascription of her trouble to the immediate will and 
action of God. " Call me not A r aomi; y she said : 
" that word implies prosperity from Jehovah ; but 
the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me; Jeho- 
vah hath brought vie home again empty. Why call 
ye me Naomi ? The name means pleasantness to 
Jehovah, and can only be applied to one who is 
pleasing in His sight ; but Jehovah has testified against 
vie, and the Almighty has afflicted me." So closely 
did her lamentation over her fallen fortunes adhere 
to the text supplied for it in her name. It is mo- 
rally certain that other names which proved to be 
in remarkable accordance, or in remarkable con- 
trast, with the character or circumstances of indi- 
viduals would also suggest appropriate trains of 
thought, and be expanded into similar expressions 
of feeling. 

Another instance occurs in the history of David. 
Abigail, the wife of Nabal, the rich sheepmaster, 
who had churlishly and ungratefully refused David 
a supply of provisions for his men, addressing the 
offended chieftain in deprecation of his wrath, thus 
speaks of her husband, " Let not my lord regard 
this man of Belial, even Nabal ; for as his name is, 
so is he ; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him." 
Nabal signifies " a fool ; ;; and the word for folly is 
formed immediately from the word Nabal. And 
the expression " folly is with him" intimates that 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 389 

folly was as inseparable from him as his name. It 
may also be compared with the name Ahitophel, 
" brother of folly/'' one who is closely united and 
related to folly. Simonis thinks that such a name 
as Xabal, signifying " a fool."' would not be given 
to a child by his parents, and therefore derives irs 
original meaning from the verb nabel, " to fade." 
or ••'wither.'"'" which is in fact its root, and supposes 
that it denotes a weak and sickly infancy ; so that 
it would be represented rather by the word " weak- 
ling" than "witless." In this case. Abigail must 
have availed herself of the double sense of the 
name to describe by it her husband's mental in- 
stead of his early physical characteristics. And 
such an employment of a word would be quite 
consistent with usages which have been already 
noticed of the Hebrew language and people. But 
it certainly appears, from the tenor of her speech, 
that she meant to account for her husband's con- 
duct by his general and native character; and if so, 
his name must have belonged to him in the sense 
in which she used it from an early age. There are 
not wanting parallel instances among other nations 
of such disparaging names, which must either have 
been chosen by parents for their children, or added 
as nicknames, and gradually substituted, by family 
use, for those primarily given. Hence the Roman 
name Brutus, " dull,'" 5 or " stupid,''' which is attri- 



390 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES, 

buted by Livy to the feigned imbecility of the cele- 
brated member of the great Junian gens, who is 

first known to have borne it. And several English 
surnames are derived from words of similar mean- 
ing. Thus Dower probably is from the old Norse, 
dart, Danish, daare, a fool \ Dodd, which frequently 
occurs in Saxon annals in the form Dodda, or 
Dudda, has its etymon in the Friesic word dod, a 
blockhead, whence our English " dote." And Offa, 
the name of one of the wisest kings of Mercia, which 
is the same as the word Oaf, or simpleton, is ac- 
counted for by the fact that he was blind till his 
seventh and dumb till his thirteenth year, and so 
simple and pusillanimous that all hope that he 
would ever prove himself worthy of his station was 
abandoned.'" 

An example, showing how naturally, on an occa- 
sion given, the signification of such names would 
present itself to the mind, is afforded in a letter of 
Cicero to Atticus, in which, speaking of a certain 
political action of which he disapproved, he says, 
" What then ? was that the fault of the Bruti, (con- 
spirators against Caesar ?) Certainly not ; but of 
other bruti, (stupid, senseless men,) who think them- 
selves wary and wise." Upon reference to many 
names which we have discussed, it will be abun- 
dantly evident that the actual or possible circum- 
•F English Surnames, pp.468, 327. 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 391 

stances or conduct of their possessors might well 
suggest similar allusions, or such comments as 
Naomi made upon her own name, or Abigail upon 
that of her husband. 

Melech, " king," is found in various combinations 
forming proper names. Some of these have been 
already noticed, — Melchizedech, the name of the 
mystic king of Salem ; Abimelech, son of Gideon ; 
Melchi-shua, that of the third son of Saul. The 
meaning of this last name is, " my king (is) salva- 
tion (or prosperity,'') in which sense it is to be com- 
pared with Abishua, or Elishua, which refer the 
blessing of deliverance or prosperity respectively 
to the agency of a father, (Ab,) or the will of God, 
(El.) The probable date of Melchi-shua' s birth is, 
as we have seen, (p. 245,) the second or third 
year of Saul's reign; and if so, it coincides with 
the date of the victory which, through his eldest 
son Jonathan, he obtained over the Philistines. 
It would seem, therefore, to have been given in 
commemoration of that event, the glory of which 
is naturally enough attributed to the king by his 
consort^ or her attendants and courtiers. 

If there be any reason to prefer the order of 
Saul's younger sons, as stated in the First Book of 
Chronicles, to that of the First Book of Samuel, the 
birth of Melchi-shua, whom the Chronicler mentions 
as the second, must be referred to the first or second 



392 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

year of his father's reign ; and so his name would 
appear to be a record of the first great exploit of 
Saul, due entirely to himself, — the deliverance of 
Jabesh Gilead by his victory over Nahash, king of 
the Ammonites. 

Beside Abimelech, three other names com- 
pounded with Melech occur among the people of 
Israel before the regal period. But they do not 
imply, like Abimelech, the existence of either a 
king or a person possessing kingly power, for they 
are all compounded also with the Divine name, 
and ascribe the kingdom to God. The earliest of 
these was Malchiel, grandson of Asher, the son of 
Jacob. His name is the same in sense as Eli- 
melech, that of the husband of Naomi, who lived 
during the epoch of the Judges, Melchiel, meaning 
u God (is) my king," and Elimelech " (my) God 
(is) king." Malchiah, a name which occurs in the 
family of Levi, and perhaps at the latter part of 
the same epoch, differs from the two former names 
only in the substitution of J ah for El, and means 
" Jehovah (is) my king." Malchiram, " my king 
is exalted," is the name of one of the sons of Je- 
hoiachin, king of Judah. Jehoiachin was carried 
captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in the nine- 
teenth year of Ins age. His family is thus enume- 
rated in i Chron. iii. 17, 18: "Assir, Salathiel his 
Malchiram also, and Pedaiah," and four others. 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 393 

Salathiel, who was the father of Zerubbabel, is ex- 
pressly said by St Matthew to have been born after 
the arrival in Babylon. And, considering the youth- 
ful age of Jehoiachin, (Jeconiah,) when that event 
occurred, it would seem probable that his first son 
also was born in that city. The supposition is 
confirmed by his name, which is Assir, " a captive."' 
But how shall we account for the name of his third 
son, Malchiram, which implies a condition of pros- 
perity ] On referring to the history in 2 Kings xxv, 
27, it will be found recorded that ' ; in the seven 
and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, 
king of Judah, Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, in 
the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head 
of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison, and he 
spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the 
throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon.'' 
The name Malchiram, " my king is exalted,'*' very 
remarkably corresponds to this favourable change 
in the fortunes of Jehoiachin. It fully expresses 
its actual character, which consisted not merely in 
a release, a "lifting of the head," out of prison, but 
in actual exaltation to a position of high and royal 
dignity. It is a name that would be given by the 
mother, who, if our supposition as to the date of 
this son's birth be correct, must have been married 
by Jehoiachin a long time after the commencement 
of his captivity, and not improbably was a new 



394 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

consort chosen by him, or given to him by his 
benefactor, Evilmerodach, on occasion of his restor- 
ation to his regal honours. We may observe, that 
'an interval between the birth of his two first sons 
and the third seems marked by the mode of narra- 
tion adopted by the Chronicler, " The sons of 
Jeconiah, (Jehoiachin,) Assir, Salathiel his son, 
Malchiram also," &c. Salathiel, who was father 
of the Zerubbabel who led the first company of 
exiles back from Babylon to Judea, must have been 
born in the early part of Jehoiachin's captivity, or 
his son would not have been of mature age at the 
time of his return. 

The coincidence between this very significant 
name of one of Jehoiachin's sons, and a most ex- 
traordinary and important event in his life, is un- 
questionably worthy of note, whether or not we 
may feel disposed to rely upon it as internal evi- 
dence of the truth of the history. 

The simple noun, Melech, " king," is recorded 
in i Chron. viii. 35 as the proper name of the 
grandson of Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. 
We may compare with this the Latin word Rex, 
known from Horace to have been a proper name 
in his time ; also the earlier and more famous 
name Regulus. Such a name may have been 
given in the family of Saul to perpetuate the re- 
membrance of its former possession of royalty. 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 395 

The word Hammelech, "the king," is also ren- 
dered as a proper name in our version in two pas- 
sages, (Jer. xxxvi. 26, xxxviii. 6,) but as a common 
noun in another, (1 Kings xxii. 26.) In each of 
them it designates the father of a person spoken 
of, who may have been the king at the time ; or, 
more probably, in the two former passages, king 
when this person w T as born. But most translators 
understand it as a proper name ; and this opinion 
is confirmed by the occurrence of the undoubtedly 
proper name Hammoleketh, " the queen, n or, liter- 
ally, "the regent/' 7 in the genealogy of Manasseh, 
(1 Chron. vii. 18.) Hammoleketh was the grand- 
daughter of Manasseh, son of Joseph, and sister of 
Gilead, who gave his name to the large and fertile 
district so called, and who evidently was a man 
distinguished in his day and generation for wealth 
and power. His sister, too, must have possessed 
some characteristics of eminence, since she is men- 
tioned, without any reference to her husband, as 
the ancestress of one of the leading families in her 
grandfather's tribe. The early development of such 
characteristics may have led to the acquisition of 
her recorded regal name. 

Three compounds with Melech are found as ap- 
parently proper names, but of such a character, and 
applied to such personages, as to lead us to believe 
that they were rather additional, and official, than 



396 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

original names. The first of them is Nathan- 
melech, the name of an officer called " a chamber- 
lain,'' or " eunuch," who had some employment 
under Josiah in the temple. This combination of 
words, which means " the king gave," or " the 
king appointed/' has very much the appearance of 
an appellative which had come into use as the 
court designation of a person holding a particular 
office of trust. The same may be said of Ebed- 
melech, " servant of the king," as the Ethiopian 
eunuch, or chamberlain, is called to whom Jeremiah 
owed his deliverance from the dungeon. Josephus 
gives this person no name, but calls him one of the 
king's servants. And Regem-melech, the name of 
one of the returned captives mentioned by Zecha- 
riah in conjunction with Sharezer, which is an 
Assyrian name, sounds very like a title indicating 
confidential position in the court of a prince. It 
means " friend of the king." So Hushai the Ar- 
chite is repeatedly called " David's friend," or 
" companion," evidently in an official sense ; and 
Zabud, the son of Nathan, is reckoned among 
Solomon's officers as " the king's friend." This 
Regem-melech may have stood in the same rela- 
tion to Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, after his 
titular restoration, or even to one of the kings 
i f Babylon or Persia; since we know, by the ex- 
ample of Daniel and his three friends, and of 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 397 

Nehemiah, that Jews were admitted to high office 
in their courts. 

As in all other languages, proper names are 
found in Hebrew denoting physical characteristics ; 
for the most part, such as were observable at or 
soon after birth. Thus, as we have noticed already, 
Esau was so called from his hairiness, Korah from 
baldness ; Laban, the name of Jacob's father-in- 
law, means "white." Lebanon is the same word 
in an augmented form — "the great white (moun- 
tain/') the Mont Blanc of Syria. Xahor, his father, 
is thought by Simonis to derive his name from a 
word of the same meaning. But it is more closely 
allied to a word which certainly signifies " snort- 
ing," and therefore seems to have been suggested 
by an infantine habit of snoring loudly. If so, he 
probably owed his name to his nurse. And we 
may compare with it the Latin Stertinius, — appa- 
rently a derivative of stertere, " to snore/ 5 — the 
name of a Stoic philosopher, whom his disciples, 
according to Horace, esteemed the eighth of the 
wise men of the world. Uzzah, " strength,'*' is the 
well-known name of the man who was smitten 
with death for touching the ark. If he retained in 
manhood the characteristic which appears to have 
given him this name in infancy, we can understand 
why he, rather than any other, should have been 
forward to save the ark from falling, when the oxen 



398 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

stumbled who were drawing the carriage on which 
it was placed. Conscious of physical power,, he 
would naturally be prompt to exert it on such an 
occasion, to sustain the tottering vehicle and its 
precious load. So remote and latent, oftentimes, 
is the cause which leads to injurious and even fatal 
action. 

Azaz and Aziza are names of the same meaning. 
Uzzi is equivalent to Uzziah, " strength of Jeho- 
vah," and belongs to another and a higher class of 
names, which have been under consideration. 

Jabesh, the name of the father of Shallum, a 
king of Israel, is "dry/' "wasted/' "withered." 
The Latin Macer and Macrinus have the same 
signification. As the name of a town in Gilead, 
Jabesh no doubt expresses the nature of the soil ; 
as the name of a person, when first so employed, 
the physical condition of his infancy. Gareb, one 
of David's captains, " the scurvied," or " scabby," 
carried with him in his name no very agreeable re- 
miniscence of his early years. The hill so called 
may also have received its denomination from an 
appearance not unusual on hills, and often de- 
scribed by similar terms. Several persons have 
the name Paseah, u lame /' one of them is regis 
tered in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah as the 
head of a family among the Nethinims, or servants 
of the sanctuary. The founder of the great Clau- 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 399 

dian gens among the Romans probably derived his 
name from the adjective daiidns, implying con- 
genital or early lameness. Another name, occur- 
ring twice in the same registers is Giddel, " over- 
grown/' corresponding to the Latin Crassus, a 
family name in the Licinian gens, familiar to the 
readers of Roman history as that of the associate 
with Csesar and Pompey in the first Triumvirate. 

Among all nations, civilized and barbarous, many 
proper names are derived from the brute creation. 
As originally given, or assumed, they doubtless 
were intended to signify the possession of qualities, 
or physical characteristics, for which the various 
animals are valued or admired. Where family 
names corresponding to our surnames prevailed, 
these would often, by their reference to animals, 
denote the early occupation, or principal posses- 
sions of the family. Such among the Romans was 
the origin, according to Plutarch/" of the names of 
some of the best families ; as the Porcii, from 
porcus, "pig;" the Caprarii, from caper, "a goat;" 
the Ovilii, from ovis, " a sheep ;" the Suillii, from 
sus, " 2l sow." But, for the most part, the forma- 
tion of a human name from that of an animal is 
traceable to some peculiarity either observed or 
desired in an individual, which would thus be most 
intelligibly expressed in a rude and simple age. 
* Life of Poplicola. 



400 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

The first person mentioned by a name of this 
kind in Scripture is Rachel, the beloved wife of 
Jacob. Rachel is the word for a " ewe '' distinc- 
tively, although sometimes used for a sheep gene- 
rally. It became a proper name, doubtless, from 
having been employed as a title of endearment, 
just as the word "lamb" is among ourselves. A 
still earlier name, Rebekah, however, (or Ribqah,) 
that of Isaac's wife, is one which, although not be- 
longing to any animal in particular, has reference 
to animals only, and those of a limited class, and 
in a peculiar condition. It is the same as fading, 
and indicates the plumpness of healthy infancy, 
which in this case, we may easily imagine, was 
no unfaithful augury of that style of beauty in ma- 
turer age which has always been in high estimation 
among the Orientals. 

Caleb means "a dog," "a barker;" it is the 
well-known name of the noble of the tribe of 
Judah who was so honourably associated with 
Joshua in the exploration of the Land of Canaan, 
and in the blessings which rewarded their faithful 
report. He was not the first of the family who 
bore this name ; but he remarkably exemplified 
its significance if we suppose that it was given in 
the first instance to mark the fidelity, or watchful- 
ness, in the service of a master, of which the clog 
well be taken as a symbol. It must be 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES, 401 

owned, however, that the dog was an animal by 
no means held in high estimation among the 
Israelites, and that it is the representative in 
Scripture of all that is abominable and unclean. 
Probably a different feeling prevailed in Egypt 
when the name was first introduced into the family 
of Judah, since one of the principal deities of 
that country, Anubis, was worshipped under the 
form of a dog-headed man ; and the dog was cer- 
tainly one of the sacred animals of Egypt. On the 
other hand, the ass, which we treat with such con- 
tempt as synonymous with stupidity, and which 
also was an object of aversion to the Egyptians, 
was certainly held in honour by other people. It 
typified strength, patience, usefulness, and even 
sagacity. Hence we need not be surprised to find 
a Canaanitish chief possessing the name Hamon, 
" ass." Among the Romans, also, we meet with 
several names having the same meaning. Asina, 
and Asellus, (ass's colt,) were names of families ; 
and Asinius was the name of a gens, or clan, one 
member of which was C. Asinius Pollio, distin- 
guished as a statesman, orator, poet, and historian 
in the Augustine age, and to whom Horace ad- 
dressed a complimentary ode on the composition 
of a history of the civil wars of his time, a work 
which unfortunately is lost. The lion, as in most 
nations, supplied several names to the Hebrews ; 

2C 



402 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

and Lyon is a common surname among them at 
this day. Of persons so distinguished the best 
known is Othniel, son-in-law of Caleb, and the 
first of the Judges of Israel. His name signifies 
" Lion of God." We find also Othni, eldest of the 
sons of Shemaiah, eldest son of Obed-edom, whom 
God blessed as the faithful keeper and guardian of 
the ark. These sons of Shemaiah are said to have 
ruled throughout the house of their father, for they 
were mighty men of valour. Othni may mean 
" Lion of Jehovah." It was perhaps acquired as 
a proper name by an early exhibition of strength 
and courage ; and if the terminal i is the abbrevi- 
ation of Jah, it ascribes the possession of such 
qualities to the grace of Jehovah, and indicates the 
dedication of them to His service. We do not 
meet with the word othen for a lion in the Hebrew 
Scriptures ; but the cognate word; othon — one of 
the numerous Arabic names for the king of beasts 
— leaves no doubt of its meaning. The proper 
name Laish, however, is a Hebrew name of the 
animal ; and so is Ari — whence the name Ariel, 
signifying, like Othniel, " Lion of God." Every 
reader will remember Leonidas, the heroic king 
of Sparta, who was descended from an ancestor 
called Leon. And a man named Leon was the 
first Greek taken prisoner by the army of Xerxes, 
in his invasion of Greece. He was immediately 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 403 

sacrificed ; and the historian Herodotus considers 
that his fate was owing to his name. They took him 
for a symbol of his fellow-countrymen. This inci- 
dent is a proof of the superstitious importance at- 
tached to the meaning of names by Eastern nations. 
Deborah is a name that occurs twice in Scrip- 
ture. It is that of Rebekalrs nurse, and of the 
prophetess who held the office of magistrate of 
Israel early in the era of the Judges. The word 
signifies " a bee/*' and is doubtless emblematic of 
industry, patience, sagacity, and usefulness. It 
was a very natural name for a female born, as pro- 
bably the elder Deborah was, in a state of servi- 
tude, but of such parentage as to warrant the anti- 
cipation that she would rise to a domestic office of 
great trust in the patriarchal household of Xahor. 
And from the fact that she evidently accompanied 
her young mistress and early charge into Canaan, 
when quitting Syria to become the bride of Isaac, 
and from the honour paid to her at her death in a 
very advanced age, we may safely conclude that 
her conduct throughout life fulfilled the expecta- 
tion, or the hope, expressed by her name. We 
know nothing of the early history of the prophetess- 
judge. She may have received her name simply as 
a repetition of the preceding. But the practical 
qualities symbolized by it were as necessary to her 
in her high office as they were to the right per- 



404 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

formance of the humbler duties of the former De- 
borah ; and we have every reason to believe that 
she fully exemplified them in her political and 
judicial conduct. Happy would it be for every 
country if its rulers and -ministers, or chief servants 
of the state, possessed just those honours and vir- 
tues which constitute the character of a trust- 
worthy servant of a family. It is for want of these, 
rather than of more brilliant talents, that nations 
are often plunged into difficulties and dangers. 

Jonah, the name of the prophet who was sent to 
Nineveh, signifies " a dove ;" and so does Jemima, 
the name of the eldest of the daughters in the 
second family of Job. As a pet name given in 
infancy, it seems more suitable for a female than a 
male child, especially as the word Jonah is of the 
feminine gender. There is apparently a modern 
parallel to it in the name of the Irish saint, 
Columba ; but this may be merely the Latinized 
form of the Erse or Celtic cohn. Columba in 
Latin, however, like Jonah in Hebrew, is used for 
the pigeon or dove generally, although there is a 
masculine form, Columbus, famous to all genera- 
tions as a proper name. But the great navigator 
and discoverer had thus Latinized his original 
name, which was Colon, derived probably from 
Colonus, a cultivator of the ground, or perhaps a 
colonist 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES, 405 

Nahash, "serpent/' was the name of at least 
two kings of Amnion, and probably of another 
Ammonite of distinction, (2 Sam. xvii. 27.) It is 
also, according to the Chronicler, the name of the 
parent of Abigail, sister of David \ and if so, this 
parent must have been her mother, the wife of 
Jesse, and consequently the mother of David. It 
may seem strange that a reptile which is the object 
of universal abhorrence should supply a favourite 
name to a royal family, or a name for a female. 
But the serpent was, we know, from a very ancient 
date the emblem of wisdom and subtlety. An asp, 
in Egyptian hieroglyphics, represents the regal 
power of life and death. The form of the serpent 
is employed in the religious symbolism of all the 
ancient nations especially to denote consecration 
or dedication. And we have an illustrious example 
of the use of its Greek name as a proper name in 
Draco, the renowned Athenian legislator. His 
name, however, has often been alluded to as signi- 
ficant not of the wisdom, but of the terrible severity 
of his laws. 

Several proper names of persons mentioned in 
Scripture are taken from trees. " Tamar," a palm- 
tree, is the name of the daughter-in-law of Judah, 
and mother of his children Pharez and Zarah. It 
is also the name of David's daughter, the sister of 
Absalom, who is described as conspicuous for 



406 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

beauty. And Ithamar, name of a son of Aaron, 
and head of the line of high priests ending with 
Abiathar, is a compound of Tamaf ; rendered by 
'some Palm-island, by others, " like a palm." The 
ideas of beauty and wealth seem to be combined 
in such names \ the palm-tree being at the same 
time the most ornamental, and the most valuable 
for its produce, of Eastern trees. Elah, son of 
Caleb, and another Elah, son of Baasha, the fourth 
of the kings of the Ten Tribes, w T ith several besides, 
derive their name from the " oak/' or " terebinth n 
tree, considered, no doubt, as a symbol of strength 
and stability. The augury of the name was singu- 
larly belied in the case of the second of these. In 
him was fulfilled the prophecy addressed to his 
father Baasha, that God would " make his house 
like the house of Jeremiah the son of Nebat." He 
reigned but two years, and was killed by his ser- 
vant Zimri " as he was drinking himself drunk in 
the house of Area, his steward/' and all his father's 
family perished with him. He was " as an oak 
whose leaf fadeth." The olive is found as a name 
in various forms. A certain Benjamite is called 
Zethan, and a Levite, Zetham ; both words signify- 
ing "a great olive." And Izhar, the name of a 
grandson of Levi, grandfather to Korah, is by some 
understood to mean an olive-tree; by others, its 



MISCELLANEOUS NA2IES. 407 

produce — olive oil. Children, it will be remem- 
bered, are compared to olive plants in Ps. cxxviii. 
3 • and David likens himself, in Ps. lii. 8, to " a 
green olive-tree in the house of his God/' 5 The 
olive was the representative of health and vigour. 
of durability, of plenty, peace, and happiness. 
Hence it is employed by the prophet Jeremiah to 
denote the condition and character designed by 
God for the people of Israel : " The Lord called 
thy name, A green olive-tree, fair and of goodly 
fruit," (chap. xi. 16 ;) a passage which the apostle 
Paul evidently had in view when, in writing to the 
Roman Christians, he spoke of Israel as " the olive- 
tree/' and of the Gentile Church as a wild olive 
engrafted, and so " partaking of the root and fat- 
ness of the olive-tree." Rich spiritual blessedness 
and spiritual beneficence, the possession and dis- 
pensation of abundant grace, are represented under 
this image as applied to the Church of God, and 
were doubtless the object of the royal psalmists 
desire when he applied it to himself. A pious 
father would, we may presume, express similar 
aspirations on behalf of his children when he conse- 
crated them to God under the symbol of the olive. 
Many of the blessings which God has promised to 
His whole Church may be claimed in Christ by 
each individual believer \ and even- Christian may 



4oS MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

be, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, the bless- 
ing to all around him which the Church is destined 
to be to the whole world. 

- Passing over, of necessity, a great number of 
isolated names the signification of which would 
afford material for interesting and profitable con- 
sideration, we conclude this part of the subject 
with a brief reference to two classes of names, 
which may perhaps present some difficulties to the 
student of the personal nomenclature of the Bible. 
We have seen that the same name is sometimes 
found belonging to a male and female. When a 
name is a compound of a certain character, such as 
Abiah, — " Jehovah (is) my father,''* — or is other- 
wise expressive of a fact, it is clearly as applicable 
to one sex as the other. But among the Hebrews 
an abstract term also, used as a proper name, 
might be given either to a male or female, irrespec- 
tive of its own formal or grammatical gender. 
Hence many names of men have a feminine ter- 
mination, and some names of women a masculine. 
Perhaps, if there were as many women mentioned 
as men, the numbers in these two classes would be 
equal. It is further to be noticed as a fact still 
more in opposition to our modern practice and 
notions, and not easy to be accounted for on any 
principles, that in cases where two forms of a word 
masculine and a feminine — the feminine is 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES, 4®9 

repeatedly found in use as the name of a man. 
Thus Shelomi, "peaceable," and Shelomo, (Solo- 
mon,) are masculine forms and masculine names ; 
Shelomith is the feminine form, and is the name of 
several women, but it is also the name of several 
men. The father of Achish, king of Gath, is called, 
in i Sam. xxvii. 2, Maoch, which is a mascu- 
line form. The same man, or perhaps his grand- 
son, is called Maachah, which is feminine, and the 
name of a wife of David, the mother of Absalom, 
and also of her great-granddaughter, the wife of 
Rehoboam. Shemer and Shirnri (watchful) are 
names of men, but so is their feminine, Sliimrath ; 
while a woman is called in one place Shomer, 
(keeper.) which is masculine, and in another Shim- 
rith, which is feminine, with the same meaning. 

Similar anomalies exist in some of the appella- 
tives, and other words of the language. The titles 
of persons holding certain offices are feminine in 
termination, as Pekhah, "a governor ;" so likewise 
the word which we translate "the Preacher" in the 
Book of Ecclesiastes. If we adopt our marginal 
reading of Isa. xi. 9— "O thou that teliest good 
tidings to Zion n — the single word for " the teller of 
good tidings/'' which is feminine, must be understood 
of a messenger, or herald, who would naturally be 
considered as of the masculine gender. The words 
in concord with it, however, are all feminine. 



410 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES, 

which would seem to support our textual reading : 
" O Zion that tellest," &c. But it is to be ob- 
served that the word in concord with "the Preacher" 
in Eccles. vii. 27 is feminine, although undoubtedly 
the Preacher here, as throughout the book, must 
be understood to be a man. Again, some mascu- 
line nouns have, in the plural, feminine termina- 
tions, and feminine nouns have plurals of the 
masculine form. For example, the essentially mas- 
culine noun ab, "father," is in the plural aboth, not 
abim. 

No satisfactory explanation has yet been given 
of these phenomena of the language, nor do they 
throw any light upon the apparent misappropria- 
tion of masculine and feminine proper names 
respectively. Some have thought that the femi- 
nine termination was used to express fondness, 
regard, or admiration. This theory by no means 
accounts for the various usages among appellatives 
which have been referred to. But, if it can be 
established that such notions were at all connected 
with the feminine form of words, the fact would 
supply an intelligible principle for the adoption of 
words with feminine terminations as masculine 
names. 

The second class of names which is likely to 
occasion some perplexity is that of duplicates 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 411 

Many persons are spoken of under two different 
names. In a large number of cases these will be 
found to be the same names in different forms, or 
the same in signification. But there are some who 
possess two names which are in no respect equiva- 
lent or similar to each other. Thus a son of Saul, 
king of Israel, is called in one place Ishui, but 
elsewhere Abinadab : Ishui meaning probably 
"like" — that is, like his father; but Abinadab, as 
before explained, "whose father (is) liberal." 
David's son by Abigail is named Chileab — 
"fathers desire" — in one place, and in another 
Daniel, " God is judge," or " God has judged." 
Izhar, a name lately explained, belongs evidently 
to the same son of Kohath, the son of Levi, who 
is afterwards called Amminadab ; the former word, 
"olive," referring, as is most likely, to the indivi- 
dual himself; the latter, "the people is willing or 
liberal," to some national or tribal occurrence at 
the time of his birth, or in his infancy. The 
examples of Benjamin and Solomon show that 
possibly, in such cases, the two names may have 
been given contemporaneously; and it may be 
readily supposed that although one might receive 
the preference, as the usual name, both would be 
preserved, and the less favoured occasionally em- 
ployed. It is remarkable that parallel instances 



J 12 MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

of such duplicates occur in the records of the 
heroic ages of Grecian history, a period coeval 
with that between Moses and David. Paris, the 
son of Priam, whose abduction of Helen was 
the cause of the Trojan war, is generally men- 
tioned in the " Iliad ;; by his name Alexander. 
Homer tells us that the infant son of Hector had 
been called Scamandrius by his father, in honour, 
doubtless, of the god of the river Scamander, but 
that the people called him Astyanax, " lord of the 
city," because it was Hector alone who defended 
Troy ; and this is the name by which his mother 
speaks of him. The son of Achilles, called in 
the " Odyssey " Neoptolemus, according to ancient 
legends adopted by Virgil bore also the name of 
Pyrrhus, equivalent to Kufus, or c; the red." And 
that well-known character of the "Odyssey/' Irus the 
beggar, is said to have acquired this name from his 
services as a messenger, by a kind of burlesque 
upon Iris, the name of the heavenly messenger, the 
goddess Iris ; but his mother, the poet states, had 
given him the name Arnaeus. In the "^Eneid," 
Virgil calls the son of ./Eneas indifferently 
Ascanius and lulus, informing us that the latter 
name was added as a cognomen or surname, but 
speaking of it as a name by which, under the form 
I lus, lie was known in his earliest years. Neither 
ill thi nor in that of any of the pairs of 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 413 

names before mentioned, was one of the two names 
used like a Roman cognomen, or our surname, in 
conjunction with the other, but apart from, and 
instead of it. With such examples before us, both 
in sacred and secular history, of persons possessing 
double but independent names, we may reasonably 
account for the designation of the same individual 
by different names in various parts of the same or 
a different record, not by assuming that a mistake 
has been made by one of the writers, or that the 
narratives are conflicting or contradictoiy legends, 
but by the supposition, shown to be consistent 
with the practice of the time, that each person was 
actually known by each of his two names. 

There is a vast number of proper names which 
cannot be reduced under any class-denomination 
expressing community of etymological character. 
They are as varied as the circumstances in which 
nations, or families, or individuals can be placed, 
or as the sentiments or emotions of the human 
mind. In most instances the signification of the 
words thus chosen for names is ascertainable ; in 
very few can the reason for the name be discovered, 
even when something is known about the person 
bearing it, his parents or his times. In many, 
however, there is ground for plausible conjecture. 
Those who may wish to pursue the subject may 
perhaps derive some assistance, when considering 



4H MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 

the probable origin of isolated names, from the 
observations which have been made upon those 
which are capable of classification, and are refer- 
able to some common principle. A name will 
often be found in affinity with another, or others, 
belonging to the classes which have been discussed, 
and on which some light has been thrown by speci- 
mens of the same class which have been explicitly 
accounted for, or may be readily explained, by state- 
ments in the sacred narrative. But it is necessary 
to repeat the caution which has already been given 
against rash speculation and spiritualization. A 
word, or a combination of words, used as a per- 
sonal name, may be suggestive of interesting or 
profitable reflections which arise from it simply so 
used. We are not, however, warranted in believing 
that the name is intended to impart the instruction 
we may thus derive from it. Much less are we 
entitled to suppose, if this instruction should be 
of an evangelical, doctrinal, or spiritual character, 
that evangelical, doctrinal, or spiritual truth is ac- 
tually revealed by the name — that it was given, and 
placed on record, and in its peculiar position and 
( onnection, for the purpose of teaching and cor- 
roborating such, truth. To adopt such a system of 
interpretation would be to multiply mysteries with- 
out authority, and to make the teaching of Holy 
pture uncertain and precarious. A modest and 



MISCELLANEOUS NAMES. 415 

guarded application of the meaning of proper names 
may be as instructive as Archbishop Trench has 
made "the study of words" in common use; but 
if we exalt them into symbols of the faith, or pro- 
phetic emblems, we are in danger of perverting 
them into sources of mischievous, and perhaps fatal 
error. 



XT. 



HEATHEN NAMES. 




H CONSIDERABLE proportion of the 



proper names recorded in the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures consists of the names of 
persons belonging to the various heathen tribes 
and nations with which the Israelites were conver- 
sant at different periods of their history. And as we 
do not exclude from our consideration the actions 
and sayings of heathens reported in the Bible, so 
neither can we consistently, in an inquiry like the 
present, pass over their proper names. Their 
deeds and words, as well as those of the ungodly 
in general, have not the same interest for us, nor 
can they be as profitable subjects of contemplation, 
as those of God's faithful people ; but they have 
their uses, and form part of the instruction provided 
for us in the Divine Word. So the significance 
of heathen names, when it can be ascertained, 
though not capable of the application which can 



HE A THEN NA MES. 4 1 7 

frequently be made of that of Israelitish names, 
may yet conduce to the improvement of our ac- 
quaintance with the sacred story, and afford some 
practical lessons occasionally in human character. 

One class of those names, consisting of those 
which are compounded of the names of heathen 
deities, has already been discussed In proceeding 
to the examination of others, it will be necessary 
to call to mind the observations made on the affinity 
of various languages in which many of them occur 
with the Hebrew T , the vernacular language of the 
people of Israel for at least a thousand years, 
known words of which supply the origin of most, 
but very far from all, Israelitish names. The 
Hebrew itself is certainly almost identical with the 
Phoenician or old Canaanitish language. This 
appears from the Canaanitish names of persons, 
and places, and deities ; and from the free inter- 
course which the descendants of Abraham con- 
stantly held with the inhabitants of Canaan. The 
fact is confirmed also by such scanty remains as we 
possess of the Punic or Carthaginian language, 
which was of course originally Phoenician. Plautus, 
in his comedy, "Pcenulus," introduces a Cartha- 
ginian speaking Punic; and although Oriental 
scholars differ as to the exact rendering of his 
discourse, it is beyond a doubt that many of the 
words are pure Hebrew. The signification, there- 

2 D 



4 1 8 HE A THEN NAMES. 

fore, of most Canaanitish names will be ascertain- 
able from roots and forms of words existing in 
Hebrew. The Aramaic language, in various dia- 
lects, was spoken in Chaldaea, Mesopotamia, and 
Syria. It was Abraham's mother-tongue, and pro- 
bably, in his time, differed not very materially from 
the language which he found spoken in the land of 
Canaan. Its influence, however, must have been 
considerable in forming the dialectical variation of 
the old Phoenician tongue which became the lan- 
guage of Abraham's family and posterity — the 
Hebrew of the Old Testament. In after ages, the 
Syrian, or Chaldee, and the Hebrew, became so 
distinct, that the common people who used those 
languages respectively were not intelligible to each 
other ; although there is a remarkable testimony to 
the fact that the higher classes in the two nations 
could converse in both languages ; for Rabshakeh, 
general of the Assyrians under Sennacherib, spoke 
in the Jews' language to the people of Jerusalem, 
while the ministers of Hezekiah besought him to 
speak to themselves alone in the Syrian language, 
affirming that they understood it We may reason- 
ably, therefore, expect to be able to interpret many 
personal names occurring in the Syrian, Assyrian, 
and Chaldee dialects, by means of cognate words 
in Hebrew. Lastly, the Arabic, the most widely 
diffused, as well as the most copious and flexible 



HE A THEX XA JIBS. 4 1 9 

of the great Semitic family of languages, spread 
itself over the vast extent of country, occupied 
chiefly by nomad tribes, which reached from the 
Dead Sea to the Arabian Gulf, and from the moun- 
tains of Gilead to the Euphrates. That portion of 
this region which was immediately to the south 
and south-east of Palestine, after its devastation by 
the invasion and conquests of Chedorlaomer, and 
the extinction and dispersion of a numerous popu- 
lation by the catastrophe of the "cities of the plain," 
appears to have come gradually into the possession 
of the prolific offshoots of the Abrahamic family — 
the Midianites, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, 
and Amalekites. The languages spoken by these 
people would consequently be a mixture of the 
Chaldaeo-Phcenician, or Hebrew, with the Arabic 
dialects of the tribes whom they subjugated. We 
may therefore hope to find considerable assistance 
in discovering the meaning of then* proper names, 
both from Arabic and Hebrew.* Two other im- 
portant nations with which the people of Israel 
were connected, at considerable intervals in their 
history, the Egyptian and Persian, spoke languages 

* " The radical words of the most modern Arabic answer, 
consonant for consonant, to those of the most ancient He- 
brew." "It may be affirmed that, on subjects relating to 
the necessaries of life, an Israelite of the time of Samuel and 
a Bedouin of the nineteenth century could understand each 
other. " — M. Renan, Histoire des Langues Semitiques, Liv. v. 



420 HE A THEN NAMES. 

which were altogether foreign and unintelligible to 
a Hebrew. The Hebrew language is therefore not 
available for the interpretation of Egyptian or Per- 
sian proper names. Nor is enough known of the 
ancient Egyptian and Persian tongues to enable 
us to pronounce with certainty on the meaning of 
many of the words, forming names, which occur 
in those tongues in the Bible, and in ancient his- 
tory generally. 

Greek and Latin names of heathens, as well as 
Jews, are found only in the apocryphal books, and 
in the New Testament. These will be noticed in 
the following chapter. 

Beginning with the Canaanitish names which 
are mentioned in the story of Abraham, we notice, 
first, that we meet with some belonging to a people 
not of the same race Avith the other inhabitants of 
Canaan. This is the nation of the Philistines, 
more closely connected than any of the others with 
the subsequent history of the Israelites, the nation 
which has left a remarkable vestige of its import- 
ance and influence in the name Palestine, by which 
the whole land of Canaan was known to the Greeks, 
and which remains its usual modern appellation. 
These people had migrated into Canaan long be- 
fore Abraham's time, from the country of Caphtor, 
which is by some supposed to be Cappadocia in 
Asia Minor, by others the island of Crete, and by 



HEATH EX NAMES. 42 1 

Others, again, with more probability, a part of the 
sea coast of Egypt : for the Caphtorim are repre. 
sented in the ethnological tables of Gen. x. as de- 
scended from Mizraim, which is the ordinary name 
for Egypt in the Hebrew Scriptures; and Herodotus 
states (vii. 89) that, by their own account, these 
Phoenicians, as he calls them, were formerly settled 
on the Red Sea. In the Septuagint version of the 
book of Judges, and the later books of the Old 
Testament, the word Philistines is usually rendered 
by a Greek word which means aliens or foreigners. 
Hence it would appear probable that their language 
was a mixture of that which their ancestors had 
spoken in Caphtor with the language of the Ca- 
naanites among whom they had settled, and a por- 
tion of whom they had conquered, and gradually 
displaced. This supposition is confirmed by the 
Philistine names of persons and places which we 
find in Scripture. Thus, the first person of that 
nation who is introduced in the book of Genesis is 
Abimelech, king of Gerar. Abimelech is a Hebrew 
word, or. in the time of Abraham, a Canaanitish 
word, meaning ' ; (whose) father (is) king," and pro- 
bably being, as shewn in the last chapter, a title 
which descended from father to son in the line of 
Philistine kings. But Achish, the name of a king 
of Gath in David's time, who is also called Abime- 
lech, is not a Hebrew word. Phicol, given as the 



422 HE A THEN NA MES. 

name of the first Abimelech's general, and of a 
person who held the same rank in the time of his 
successor, is probably, like Abimelech, a title of 
office ; and, although each of its syllables is a 
Hebrew word, has not the character of a Hebrew 
compound ; but compared with Pi-hahiroth, Pi- 
beseth, Pithom, Egyptian names of places, seems 
more likely to be Egyptian. In company with 
the second Abimelech, in Isaac's time, we find Ahuz- 
zath, spoken of as " one of his friends/' or rather 
" his friend," evidently in the same sense as Hushai 
and others are called " king's friends," (p. 396.) 
The word Ahuzzath, considered as Hebrew, has the 
meaning "possession," or " holding;" but its ter- 
mination gives it a resemblance to many Egyptian 
words, of which we have examples in Asenath, and 
Zaphnath, from the history of Joseph. Goliath, 
the name of the gigantic champion of the Philistine 
army slain by David, may be referred to the same 
class. Saph, and Ishbi-benob, names of warriors of 
the same family, seem to have little claim to be 
considered Hebrew words. On the other hand, 
the chief Philistine towns mentioned in the books 
of Scripture have names that are clearly Hebrew 
or Aramaic. And it is worthy of notice that several 
of them — (lerar, Ekron, Ashkelon, are derived from 
words which denote removal, or expulsion, and so 
oborate the account elsewhere given of the 



HEA THEN NAMES. 423 

Philistines, as a tribe fugitive and exiled from their 
original locality. 

The first names of individuals belonging to any 
of the seven Canaanitish nations are those of the 
Amorite chieftains who were confederate with 
Abraham not long after his emigration into the 
land of Canaan, and who aided him in his rescue 
of Lot from the Eastern invaders. These were, 
Mamre, Aner, and Eshcol. The first is a patri- 
archal form of a verb found in Hebrew, (Job xxxix. 
18,) in the sense of " rising," or " lifting up," and 
means, probably, "he who rises," or, "he who 
causes an elevation," — a very natural name for the 
son of a chief of a clan. Aner is explained by 
Simonis as a transposition of Na-er, " an exile," or 
" an emigrant ;" a sense derivable from the meaning 
of its root-form in Hebrew, but more directly from 
the meaning of the same word in the Chaldee and 
Arabic. He is called the brother of Mamre and 
Eshcol ; and when they are mentioned a second 
time he is mentioned first, as if the eldest. His 
name may commemorate the emigration of the 
family or clan from same place beyond Jordan, 
where a portion of the wide-spread tribe of the 
Amorites to which it belonged mingled with the 
Arabic-speaking population of that region. Eshcol 
is the Hebrew word for a cluster of grapes, well 
known by the valley so called from the famous 



424 HE A THEN NAMES. 

cluster cut there by the spies sent by Moses to 
explore the land of Canaan. The name seems 
expressive of a parent's pride in his offspring ; the 
addition of another son to perhaps several children 
already born suggesting to him the idea of a rich 
and beautiful cluster of the choicest of all fruit. 

The intercourse of Abraham with these Amorite 
chieftains proves that he and they were fully pos- 
sessed by the warlike and enterprising spirit of 
chivalry. Its equally distinguishing characteristic 
of gentle and lofty courtesy is also displayed in the 
transaction which introduces to us the Canaanitish 
names next on record. The manner in which 
Abraham solicited, and Ephron the son of Zohar 
the Hittite granted, possession of the field of Mach- 
pelah for a burying-place, on occasion of the death 
of Sarah, is a perfect model of refinement in lan- 
guage, and sentiment, and demeanour. And im- 
portant principles for the regulation of the believer's 
relations and dealings with the world, both in mat- 
ter and form, may be deduced from Abraham's 
conduct towards his Amorite and Hittite neighbours 
and allies. The word Ephron is an augmented form 
of the word for a "young deer ; ' or " roebuck;" 
the augmentation on adding the notion of peculiar 
excellence in strength, and agility, and speed. 
These physical qualities, so conspicuous in this 
animal, were highly desirable attributes of the 



HE A THEN NAMES. 42 5 

huntsman and warrior, and readily account for the 
employment of its name as a proper name. Zohar, 
the name of Ephron's father, means "brightness;" 
and as it appears, from a comparison of Exod. xlvi. 
10 and Xum. xxvi. 13, to have been interchange- 
able with Zerah, (the same person, a son of Simeon, 
evidently being mentioned by both these names,) it 
has the special signification of " the brightness of 
the dawn." Either he was so called poetically, to 
denote the brilliant hopes entertained respecting 
him. or most prosaically, to commemorate the fact 
of his birth at daybreak, (p. 309.) These were 
Hittite names. Another is recorded in after times 
— the name of the unfortunate husband of Bath- 
sheba. This is also a name suggested by light. 
Uriah means " (whose) light (is) Jehovah," a name 
that would certainly not be given to a Hittite at his 
birth, but was probably conferred upon this brave 
warrior when he became a proselyte to the religion 
of Israel and took service in David's army. His 
name, however, may have been originally Ur, or 
Uri 1 the sacred syllable jah being added on occa- 
sion of his adoption into the family of Israel, the 
people of Jehovah. Other Hittite names are also 
found in the patriarchal history. Esau married 
Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite; and 
another of his wives, called in one place Bashemath, 
and in another Adah, was the daughter of Elon the 



426 HE A THEN NAMES. 

Hittite. It is probably by an error of a copyist 
that Bashemath, the name of Ishmael's daughter, 
whom Esau afterwards married, is ascribed to one 
of these Canaanitish women. Another of his wives 
was Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, daughter 
of Zibeon the Hivite. 

All these names are pure Hebrew. Judith is a 
feminine form of Jehudi, which as a proper name 
has the same sense as Judah, "praise," or "one 
who is praised." Beeri, from Beer, "a well," is 
"the man of the well;" quite a name of the age 
and country, in which a well was so important and 
valuable a possession. Adah is " ornament ;" and 
is found in the compounds, Adaiah, "whom Jehovah 
adorns," and Maadiah, " ornament from Jehovah." 
Elon means " an oak," or a " terebinth tree ;" and 
is obviously symbolical of strength and stability. 
Aholibamah is " tent of the high place," or " lofty 
tent ;" and is found afterwards among the descend- 
ants of Edom as the name of a duke, or chieftain. 
The simple word Ohel, "tent," occurs long after- 
wards as the name of a son of Zerubbabel ; and the 
words Aholah, and Aholibah, are used by Ezekiel 
as mystic names for Samaria and Jerusalem respec- 
tively. The former is probably " (she has) her own 
tent," or "tabernacle," in allusion to the apostate 
worship of the Ten Tribes; the latter, "my tent, 
or tabernacle, is therein," refers to the lawful 



HE A THEN NA MES. 42 7 

temple, and the true worship of God, existing but 
neglected and perverted in Judah. Anah is men- 
tioned in two places (Gen. xxxvi. 2, 14) as the 
name of the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite ; but it 
is almost certain that the word bath, daughter, has 
been here introduced by mistake for ben, son : for 
afterwards, when a more circumstantial account is 
given by the family of Zibeon, his sons are said to 
have been Aiah and Anah ; and we are told that 
" this was that Anah that found the mules in the 
wilderness as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father/'' 
(ver. 24.) By the word rendered " mules," however, 
most modern critics understand "springs," probably 
" hot-springs/'' Anah means " answer ;" and in the 
form Anath occurs afterwards as a Hebrew name. 
Analogy favours the supposition that it is to be 
understood in the sense of " answer to prayer."' 
Hengstenberg, observing that the names of the 
fathers in the lists of Esau's wives are the same, 
with the exception of Anah and Beeri, conjectures 
that Beeri, "man of the spring," was a surname 
acquired by Anah from his discovery of these hot- 
springs. In that case, probably, Judith and Aholi- 
bamah would be names of the same person. The 
latter name may easily be conceived to have been 
given, like Beeri, from some circumstances which 
occurred when Judith was of mature age. Aiah, 
the elder brother's name, is "vulture, 5 '' or some 



428 HE A THEN NAMES. 

similar bird of prey, and is in accordance with the 
fact that the Hivite family were also Horim, — that 
is, inhabitants of the rocky and desolate country in 
the neighbourhood of Mount Hor, where such birds 
were sure to abound. The father's name, Zibeon, 
has great affinity with the word which signifies 
"hyena," and may be due to similar associations. 

For some time after this period Canaanitish names 
are not found in Scripture. Judah indeed married 
the daughter of a Canaanite, whose name was 
Shuah, which means "rich" or "noble;" but after 
this the patriarchal families went down into Egypt, 
and no Canaanite is mentioned by name until their 
posterity, after their sojourn in the desert, ap- 
proached the promised land. Here they encount- 
ered Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt on 
the east of the Jordan. The most probable deriva- 
tion of his name is from a word which signifies " to 
sweep away." As he was a great warrior and con- 
queror, it is possible that this may be an epithet by 
which he was better known than by his original 
name ; a case of frequent occurrence in later times, 
both among the Greeks and Romans, as instanced in 
the Macedonian kings of Egypt, and in such names 
as Poplicola, Coriolanus, Africanus, Augustus. 

In the book of Joshua are preserved the names 
of some of the Canaanitish kings who combined to 
resist the invasion of the children of Israel. The 



HE A THEN NAJIES. 429 

chief of these was the king of Jerusalem, Adoni- 
zedek, "lord of righteousness f a name remarkable 
for its almost identity with Melchizedek, " king of 
righteousness/*' the name of the personage who, in 
Abraham's time, was king of Salem. The first of 
his confederates was Hoham, king of Hebron. 
The full meaning of Hoham is uncertain. Its 
ending, fiam, is that of Abraham, in the same sense 
of " multitude ;" and the whole word may be either 
"multitude of multitude/' or "tumult of multitude.'"' 
Piram, king of Jarmuth, may be so called from 
Pere, "the onager or wild ass;" the terminal am. 
like on in Ephron and other words, being augmen- 
tative, expressing greatness or excellence. Others 
prefer to derive the word from Peri, "fruit,'' and 
give it the sense of "very fruitful,'* comparing the 
name Ephraim, " doubly fruitful/'' Japhia, the 
name of the king of Lachish, doubtless means 
"bright'" or "splendid." It was the name of one 
of David's sons, and may be compared with the 
Greek name Aglaus and Aglae, (fern..) Phsedrus, 
and others of similar character in most languages. 
The word Debir, the name of the last of the five 
confederate kings, means " oracle,' 7 " the seat of an 
oracle.'* He may have been the representative of 
a regal family which was the reputed depositary of 
oracular inspiration. Thus, in the Greek stories of 
the heroic age, and the Etruscan legends of the 



430 HE A THEN NA MES. 

early Roman history, we meet with chiefs and 
warriors who were also soothsayers or prophets. 
Horam, " high mountain/' the name of another king 
in the neighbourhood, is probably metaphorical, 
and significant of supremacy and grandeur. An- 
other who placed himself at the head of a most 
extensive confederacy against Joshua, was Jabin, 
king of Hazor. His name recurs after several 
generations as that of one of his successors, a 
powerful monarch who oppressed the people of 
Israel, and may have been, like Abimelech, or 
Pharaoh, dynastic, the name always assumed by 
the reigning sovereign. It is a verbal form, and 
means, "he hath understanding," and implies, if 
used as we suppose, that, by general consent, or in 
the royal house of Hazor, wisdom was considered 
a regal attribute of the highest value ; a sentiment 
which, if really prevalent in that land, may account 
for the evident supremacy of its monarch over the 
neighbouring nations. The commander of the 
second Jabin's armies was Sisera, famous for his 
defeat by Barak, and death by the hand of Jael, 
commemorated in the song of Deborah. Gesenius 
compares this word with the Syriac Sisartho, and 
assigns to it the same meaning, "battle-array." If 
this be correct, the name would appear to be 
official, and strengthens the supposition that Phicol, 
already noticed as belonging to two Philistine 



HE A THEX NA JIES. 43 1 

commanders, was a name of the same character. 
Hiller would make it " crane-crow.'' deriving it 
from the supposed names of these birds, and con- 
sidering it representative of watchfulness and sharp- 
sightedness, — an important combination of qualities 
in a general. But it is doubtful whether sis means 
"a crane," and ra, for rea, "a crow;" and equally 
doubtful whether such a collocation of words would 
idiomatically constitute a proper name. Sisera is 
found registered as the name of the head of a family 
of the Nethinim, in the books of Ezra and Xehe- 
miah. These Xethinim, it will be remembered. 
were the descendants of Canaanites, who, like the 
people of Gibeon in the first instance, were reduced 
to a condition of servitude, and devoted especially 
to the service of the sanctuary. 

Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, are mentioned in 
the book of Numbers (xiii. 22) as sons of Anak, who 
were in occupation of Hebron at the time when 
Moses sent the twelve spies to search the land. 
More than forty years after this, we find that Caleb, 
to whom this part of the land was assigned, drave 
out these same sons of Anak : and in Judges i. it is 
said that the people of Judah slew Sheshai, Ahiman, 
and Talmai. These were, it is probable, at that 
time, names of tribes, or hereditary names of 
chieftains descended from persons so called, the 
patriarchs of their race, and actual sons of Anak. 



432 HEA THEN NAMES. 

The word Anak seems to have been in use as an 
appellative \ for it is most frequently found with 
the article "the Anak," and meant either "the 
gigantic," like " rapha," whence the people called 
" Rephaim," or " the noble," which is the significa- 
tion of an Arabic word of the same letters, and 
having a common origin, we can hardly doubt, with 
the Greek anax, "lord," or "prince." Sheshai is 
"white," from the root shush, whence is Shusan 
and Susanna, "the white lily." Ahiman is of a 
class previously noticed, of names compounded 
of Ach, " brother ; " its last syllable is con- 
nected by some with the word for "like" or "like- 
ness ;" so that from the analogy of the several 
names we may conclude that this arose from the 
observation of a family resemblance. Talmai, 
which occurs afterwards as the name of the father- 
in-law of David, a Syro-Phcenician prince, and is 
the foundation of the New Testament name Tho- 
lomceus, seems immediately derivable from Telem, 
" a furrow." It is supposed that the word " furrow" 
relates to length, as furrows would be employed in 
the measurement of fields, and denotes, as a proper 
name, gigantic size. Simonis appositely refers to 
the Homeric " nine acres," employed as the mea- 
surement of gods, or demi-gods, who are represented 
as covering that extent of surface when fallen, (II., 
2i. 407 : Odyss., 11. 577.) 



HEATHEN NAMES. 



hOO 



Among heathen names of a Chaldee or Syrian 
origin, may be classed those of Abraham's relatives 
whom he left in Mesopotamia and Haran. For 
his fathers, according to the testimony of Joshua, 
(xxiv. 15,) certainly served false gods " on the other 
side of the flood " — that is, of the river Euphrates: 
and we find idols in the possession of Laban the 
Syrian, his grandnephew. There is in these names 
a mixture of Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic, which 
accords well with the migratory state of the family 
or clan at the time when they were given. But we 
pass on to the names of the purely heathen con- 
temporaries of Abraham, inhabiting the regions to 
the east and north-east of his adopted country. 
And we first find those of the confederate kings 
of which the great conqueror Chedorlaomer was 
chief. He was king of Elam, which is generally 
supposed to have been the southern part of Media. 
His name is evidently a compound, but its deriva- 
tion is uncertain. The Hebrew language affords 
two words from which a meaning might be elicited 
— chidor, " battle/' or " onset of the battle/ ; (Job 
xv. 24;) and the verb omar, which in one form 
takes the sense of " binding sheaves," and in an- 
other of "reducing to servitude." The name, if 
compounded of these words, might be taken to 
express war for the purpose or with the result of 
subjugation, and so would appear to be a title ac- 

2 E 



434 HE A THEN NAMES. 

quired by this monarch through his conquests. But 
it is very doubtful whether sufficient affinity existed 
between Hebrew and the lost language of Elam, 
to warrant this method of ascertaining the signifi- 
cation of the word. Amraphel, another of these 
warriors, was king of Shinar, — that is, of Babylonia, 
— so that his name was ancient Chaldee. But it is 
only its first syllable to which an approximative 
can be found in the Hebrew aim, " terrible," ap- 
plied to the Chaldees as a nation by the prophet 
Habakkuk, (i. 7,) and having a Chaldee root, ayyem, 
" to terrify." No satisfactory etymon has been 
proposed of Tidal, called " king of nations." But 
the last of these kings, Arioch, has a name which 
recurs in the Book of Daniel, (ii. 14,) in that of the 
provost-marshal of Nebuchadnezzar, and which is 
a Chaldee word signifying " lion-like." 

Early in the era of the Judges the Israelites 
were oppressed by a potentate called Chushan- 
rishathaim, king of Aram-naharaim, or " Syria of 
the two rivers" — that is, Mesopotamia, or the 
country between the Tigris and Euphrates. The 
word Chushan is doubtless connected with Cush, 
the name for the Ethiopian race, but applied in the 
earliest times to the Ethiopians of southern Arabia, 
rather than of north-eastern Africa. These are 
certainly meant in Heb. iii., where Chushan is as- 
sociated with Midian. The proper name Chushan 



HE A THEN NAMES. 435 

probably refers to the great ancestor of several races 
— Cush, son of Ham, and father of Nimrodj for the 
beginning of the kingdom of Nimrod was certainly, 
according to the account given of it in Gen. x. 10, 
part of the region ruled over by this monarch, 
The addition, rishathaim, is more likely to be the 
name of a town — perhaps that of his birth — than a 
title acquired by him. We may compare with it, as 
to its dual ending, Sepharvaim, a town in the same 
land on the Euphrates, and understand it to mean 
the two Rishahs, as that does the two Sepharvahs, 
from being divided into two distinct towns by a 
river. Thus also we have Kiriathaim, ("two cities/') 
a town of Moab, and another so called in the tribe 
of Reuben. Some would, however, derive this word 
from the common noun rishah, the usual sense of 
which is "wickedness." The dual ending would in 
that case be intensive, and give the meaning 
"doubly wicked," like Ephraim, " doubly fruitful." 
Such a name could only be accounted for as a title 
of disgrace or abhorrence, annexed to the real name 
by enemies, and like the names by which some of 
the Ptolemies of Egypt are distinguished in history. 
Hadadezer is the name of a Syrian king who 
was defeated by David in three great battles, if, as 
is most probable, he is the same as the person 
called Hadarezer. For the letters d and r in 
Hebrew are very much alike, and frequently mis- 



436 HE A THEN NAMES. 

placed for each other • and some manuscripts read 
Hadadezer in every passage. Hadadezer means 
" whose help is Hadad/' a name which indicates 
' Hadad as the name of a Syrian deity. This deity 
is, with good reason, supposed to be the same 
with Achad, the name of an idol mentioned in 
Isaiah lxvi. 17, but rendered in our version, 
"one (tree.)" Hadad, or Achad, represented the 
sun. Hence the name Hadadezer expressed the 
same sentiment with regard to this object of idola- 
trous worship which we find in the Hebrew name 
Eliezer, or Eleazer, respecting the one only true 
God. Benhadad, a name of several Syrian kings 
who ruled in Damascus, and were apparently of a 
different dynasty from that of Hadadezer, means 
son of Hadad. By this name they were probably 
represented as the descendants of the god Hadad. 
Similarly divine origin was claimed for many of 
the Grecian princes by Homer ; the Spartan kings 
traced their pedigree to Jupiter, through Hercules ; 
and Alexander the Great declared himself to be 
the immediate offspring of Jupiter Amnion. 
Hadad is also the name of a son of Ishmael, of 
two Edomitish kings, and of an Edomitish prince 
in the time of Solomon ; a proof of the affinity of 
the languages of these Semitic nations, although in 
the later period of their history located at a con- 
siderable distance from each other, the Syrians of 



HEA THEN NAMES. 437 

Zobah and Damascus being as far to the north of 
Palestine as the Edomites were to the south. 

On occasion of the first defeat of Hadadezer, 
Toi, king of Hamath, sent his son to David on an 
embassy of congratulation. Hamath was a border 
country or northern frontier of Canaan, between it 
and Syria, reckoned as Syrian, but peopled princi- 
pally from Phoenicia. The word Toi, written Tou 
in the Book of Chronicles, signifies " wander- 
ing/' and may perhaps indicate a fugitive condition 
of the regal family of Hamath at the time of this 
prince's birth, occasioned by the invasion of one 
or another of the more powerful Syrian kings in 
the vicinity. His son's name, however, is of a 
different character. It is Hadoram, which, in 
2 Chron. x. 18, is written for Adoram, the con- 
traction of Adoniram, the name of a financial 
minister of Solomon and Rehoboam, and means 
"whose lord (or my lord) is exalted." Such a 
name given to the son of Toi may well denote the 
exaltation of the head of the family to his rightful 
dignity after a period of depression. But this 
Hadoram who was sent by his father to David, 
" to salute him and to bless him," because he had 
smitten Hadadezer his enemy, and to convey to 
him costly presents, which were dedicated by 
David to Jehovah, is, in the earlier record of this 
transaction, called Joram. Now Joram, the name 



43S HE A THEN NAMES. 

of two Israelitish kings, means " Jehovah is ex- 
alted.' 7 And it is not at all unlikely that, on occa- 
sion of this complimentary visit, the name of the 
' princely ambassador may have been changed by the 
substitution of the abbreviation of Jehovah for that 
of Adon or Adoni, as an acknowledgment, sure 
to be most acceptable to the conqueror, that his 
victory had caused the name of Jehovah to be ex- 
alted among the heathen. Or, may we not enter- 
tain the hope that the change of the name was the 
result of the visit ; and that Hadoram, having at- 
tained the knowledge of the true God, assumed His 
name, and returned bearing this sacramental pledge 
of his conversion, and of his determination to con- 
fess and honour Jehovah before men, and to wor- 
ship Him alone i 

This speculation must suggest to the reader's 
mind the case which affords it some degree of 
support — that of Naaman the Syrian, who, being 
sent by his master, the king of Syria, into the land 
of Israel for the cure of his leprosy, received, to- 
gether with the temporal blessing which he sought, 
the infinitely more valuable gift of the knowledge 
of Jehovah, and grace to believe in Him. The 
word Naaman is an augmented form of naam, 
" pleasantness ;" it occurs twice in the family of 
Benjamin, and is closely allied to Naomi, and, like 
it, expresses a parent's satisfaction in the birth of 



HE A THEN NAMES. 439 

a child, or in its comeliness, or in the promise of 
pleasing and endearing qualities exhibited in early 
infancy. It is a soft and tender name, strangely 
in contrast with the character of its Syrian possess- 
or, as a great and successful warrior, and with the 
frightful and loathsome disease with which he was, 
perhaps for most of his life, afflicted. Well might 
he, like Naomi, have repudiated the name as a 
mockery of his condition, while an abhorrence to 
himself and all around him; and often, we may 
well imagine, would the Israelites, and other enemies 
of Syria, note the contradiction of its meaning to 
the hatred and terror which it inspired, as desig- 
nating the author of their frequent defeats, and 
their subjugation. But when his " flesh came 
again like the flesh of a little child, and he was 
clean," and when his heart was purified by faith in 
the God of Israel, he might take satisfaction in his 
name, as representing the happy change in his 
worldly condition, and also his acceptableness as a 
servant of Jehovah. 

Another name conspicuous in the joint history 
of Syria. and Israel is Hazael, which means "God 
hath seen " — i.e., " hath regarded with favour." It 
has its equivalent in several Israelitish names, as 
Haziel, Jahaziah, and Hazaiah. Hazael, an officer 
of Benhadad, king of Syria, murdered his master, 
and usurped his throne, and was a cruel tyrant 



440 HE A THEN NAMES. 

and conqueror. His name, given, as we may sup- 
pose, with reference to the desired approbation and 
favour of some idol god, might suggest to the 
- Israelitish mind quite opposite ideas when the pre- 
diction of Elisha was fulfilled by his sanguinary 
oppression of the people of the Ten Tribes. It 
would be a not unlikely prayer that " God hath 
seen," — the name of the ruthless invader, — might 
become a pledge of the fact that the true and only 
God, Jehovah, had marked the fury of the oppress- 
or, and recorded his crimes against a day of re- 
tribution. That such a sentiment might connect 
itself with this name will appear reasonable if we 
compare with it the dying words of the martyr 
Zechariah, who was slain between the altar and the 
temple, " The Lord look upon (it,) and require it." 

Some Assyrian and Chaldean names have already 
been noticed among those compounded of the 
names of heathen deities. The termination czzar, or 
ezeT) found in such names as Nebuchadnezzar and 
Sharezer, was stated to be probably the word for 
" prince," or " illustrious," its primitive idea ap- 
parently being " light," or " brightness." It occurs 
also in Sheshbazzar, the name which Zerubbabel 
had at the Babylonish court. The meaning of the 
first part of the word is uncertain, but the latter 
part corresponds with the title, " prince of Judah," 
Liven him in the Book of Ezra. A son of Jehoiachim, 



HE A THEN NA MES. 44 1 

king of Judah, born in Babylon, was called Shen- 
azar, a name altogether Chaldean, and, like the 
last-mentioned, indicative of a princely origin. The 
word esar, which forms part of the names of three 
out of the five consecutive kings of Assyria who 
were closely connected with the later history of the 
kingdoms of Israel and Judah, has probably the 
same meaning with ezer or ezzar^ and is related to 
sar, " prince," familiar to us in the feminine form 
Sarah, " princess." The sibilants in these words 
are exhibited by different letters, but letters which 
are, in Hebrew and Aramaic, continually inter- 
changed. Pul, Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, Sen- 
nacherib, and Esar-haddon are the Assyrian kings 
referred to. Pileser is probably a variation of 
Polassar in Nabo-polassar, the name of a Chal- 
dean king ) and has the meaning " great prince," 
since Pil, in another form Pul, signifies apparently 
" great," and is a word for " elephant " in Chaldee 
and Syriac. Tiglath, if, as is very likely, related to 
the Hebrew word gala, " reveal," " display," may 
be " majesty," as interpreted by Simonis. Shal- 
man so much resembles Shalomo, that Shalman- 
eser may be accepted as equivalent to Solomon, 
and meaning "the peaceful prince." It is found 
without the addition esar in Hosea x. 14, evi- 
dently as the name of the same monarch, who 
little merited such a designation, having been, as 



442 HE A THEN NAMES. 

appears from this passage, not only a great, but a 
cruel warrior. Sennacherib, the name of his suc- 
cessor, the most celebrated of these kings in sacred 
history, is in Hebrew, Sancherib. If cherib has 
an affinity with the Hebrew verb hacherib, "to 
cause destruction," which is used by Hezekiah in 
his prayer to God against this very invader, (2 Kings 
xix. 17,) and in close connection with the mention 
of his name, (ver. 16,) that name would seem so 
expressive of his character and history, that we 
must rather suppose it assumed, or acquired by 
him, than his birth-name. And this conjecture is 
supported by the probability that he is the same 
with Sargon, king of Assyria, mentioned by Isaiah 
(xx. 1) as employing a general, Tartan, afterwards 
spoken of as one of Sennacherib's generals. Sargon, 
in which we again notice the prevalent word sar, 
"prince," was probably his original name. The 
meaning of san in Sancherib, and gm in Sargon, is 
very uncertain. Esar-haddon, son of Sennacherib, 
who succeeded him on the throne of Assyria, al- 
most certainly derives the latter part of his name 
from a word identical in meaning with the Syriac 
ac/iad, which denotes " rule," or " possession by 
power," in the same sense as the Greek crates, 
which forms part of so many Greek names. The 
termination on is doubtless, as in Hebrew, aug- 
mentative, so that the name would be "prince of 



HE A THEN NAMES. 443 

great power," or u great dominion." This king 
also appears to have had another name; being 
probably the same with Asnapper, with whom he 

seems identified in 'Ezra iv. 2, 10. The as in this 
word is doubtless reduced from asar, "prince/ 3 
but no feasible derivation has been suggested for 
the remainder. Rab-shakeh and Rabsaris are 
names of generals commanding the forces of the 
Assyrian, Sennacherib : and Rabsaris and Rab- 
mag are mentioned among the princes of Nebu- 
chadnezzar, the Chaldean. These are certainly 
official, not personal names ; Rab-shakeh signify- 
ing " chief cup-bearer," and corresponding to the 
scij'-Jiavunashqim, " chief of the butlers " in the 
court of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, at a much earlier 
period. Rabsaris is " chief officer or chamberlain /' 
saris being the Hebrew word rendered " officer," 
which is applied to Potiphar, captain of the guard, 
and also to the chief butler and baker of the same 
Pharaoh. The distinction between this title and a 
proper name is shown in Dan. i. 3, where the per- 
son who is styled rab-sarisi?n, chief of the officers 
or chamberlains, is named Ashpenaz. Rab-mag 
is " chief magian,'' the high priest of the Magi, who 
attended the Babylonish kings in their campaigns, 
probably as augurs or soothsayers, superintending 
such ceremonies of divination as are described in 
Ezekiel xxi. 21, 22. 



444 HE A THEN NAMES. 

The Chaldee names, Shadrach, Meshach, and 
Abed-nego, given to the three Hebrew youths, com- 
panions of Daniel, in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, 
in substitution for their own, are said by Simonis 
to be all expressive of alacrity and activity in ser- 
vice. But each derivation proposed by him is 
very precarious. Abed is, however, most certainly 
the same as in Hebrew, a servant. 

The inhabitants of the cities of the plain, the 
chief of which were Sodom and Gomorrah, occupy- 
ing the area of the Dead Sea, and the country im- 
mediately to the east and south of it, were either 
Amorites, or a portion of the original population 
of the great Arabian region, between which and 
Canaan their territory was the border land. It is 
very probable that they were a mixed race, and 
that their language also was partly Arabic, and 
partly Phoenician, or Canaanitish. The names of 
four out of the five kings of these cities are pre- 
served in the Book of Genesis. Both Hebrew and 
Arabic derivations of the names of Bera, king of 
Sodom, and Birsha, king of Gomorrah, have been 
proposed. Bera, "in evil," has its parallel in 
Beriah, a word of the same meaning given, as we 
have seen, to a son of Ephraim, to mark a season 
of disaster. And Birsha, "in wickedness," would 
correspond to it, and suggest a regretful acknow- 
tnent, on the part of this prince's parents, 



HE A THEN NA MES. 445 

of the increasing profligacy of their people. But 
the similarity of two Arabic words to these two 
names, the former signifying " excellence in know- 
ledge/' and the latter "tall and stout/' appears 
to Simonis to decide in favour of their Arabic 
origin. And we have had not a few examples of 
names thus denoting both mental and physical 
qualities. In Shinab, the name of the king of Ad- 
mah, the termination ab is doubtless the word for 
" father," common to the Semitic languages ; the 
first syllable, according to Simonis, may be the 
Arabic verb " to be bright," " to shine," or, as he 
inclines to think, the Hebrew shean or shan, 
" quietness," which forms the name of a Manassite 
city, Bethshan, "house of quietness." In the 
former case the name would be equivalent to 
" father's glory," in the latter to " father's peace," 
that is probably "father's blessing." The remain- 
ing name, Shemeber, is apparently a compound of 
skem, " name," and e&er, " a pinion f so meaning, 
" name of wing " — that is, " a renowned name," or 
a name like an arrow, one that would strike fear ; 
reminding us of the phrase, "winged words," so 
frequently used by Homer. 

Of the tribes derived from the same stock with 
the Israelites, who occupied the country between 
Palestine and the Arabian and Syrian deserts, the 
Midianites are the first whose proper names ap- 



446 HE A THEN NA MES. 

pear in the sacred narrative. Moses, in his flight 
from Egypt, was hospitably received by the priest 
of Midian, and married one of his daughters. 
This personage is apparently mentioned by three 
different names, Reuel, Jethro, and Hobab ; for 
Reuel is said, in Exod. ii. 18, to have been the 
priest of Midian, who gave Moses his daughter 
Zipporah to wife ; and in the next chapter, and 
elsewhere, the father-in-law of Moses is called 
Jethro; but in Num. x. 29, and Judges iv. n, he is 
called Hobab. It is probable that Reuel was the 
grandfather of Zipporah, and gave her in marriage 
as the head of the family ; and that Jethro and 
Hobab are two names of the same person, a cir- 
cumstance by no means extraordinary, and of 
which several instances have been noticed. The 
word Reuel signifies " friend of God ;" it is the 
name of a son of Esau, whose mother was a daugh- 
ter of Ishmael \ and afterwards is found as the 
name of two Israelites. Jethro is the augmentative 
of Jether, which is substituted for it in Exod. iv. 18, 
and is a name of frequent occurrence. It means 
"excellence;" and from the emphatic use of the 
word by Jacob as originally applicable to Reuben, 
whom he calls "the excellency of dignity," and the 
" excellency of power," it may be understood as 
peculiarly appropriate to a first-born son. Thus 
we find it in the form Jether, the name of thrc 



HE A THEN NA MES. 44 7 

persons who were evidently eldest sons. One of 
these was the son of Gideon. The word Hobab 
means " beloved ; " and, as a second name, we may 
compare it with Jedidiah, " beloved of Jehovah," 
the second name of Solomon. No other person is 
called by this name ; and the word, as a common 
term, occurs only once in Scripture, in the Book of 
Deuteronomy, (xxxiii. 3.) among the last sayings of 
Moses, It is important to observe that the single 
example of the use of the word in the Hebrew 
Scriptures, as a common term, is in a book gene- 
rally believed, but lately denied, to belong to the 
same age with those which record the single in- 
stance of its employment as a proper name. But, 
although not found in the later Hebrew, it is re- 
tained both in Arabic and Syriac, which lends some 
countenance to the conjecture that it was an 
Arabic word when given as a name to Jethro, and 
adopted in a poetical composition by his son-in- 
law Moses. 

Zipporah, the name of the wife of Moses, means 
" a bird," and specifically a " sparrow f the femi- 
nine termination ah being added to the common 
word Zippor, which is also the father of Balak, king 
of Moab. Such a name like " dove " or " lamb," 
would originally be a term of endearment, and 
thus the word passer^ " sparrow," is used by the 
Roman poets ; Passer also being found as a Roman 



448 HE A THEN NAMES. 

family name. The root of this word is an Arabic 
verb, signifying " to chirp." 

The clan to which Reuel and his son Hobab 
belonged is distinguished from the rest of the 
Midianitish people by the name Kenites. Now 
the Kenites are spoken of in the promise to Abra- 
ham, recorded in Gen. xv. 18, 19, as one of the 
tribes whose land should become the inheritance 
of his posterity. Hence it would seem that the 
Kenites were another race than the Midianites, 
and perhaps the original inhabitants of at least a 
portion of their territory, partially amalgamated 
with them in the time of Moses, and maintaining 
some kind of feudal superiority, or prerogative, as 
evinced by their possession of the priesthood in 
the persons of Reuel, and Jethro or Hobab. They 
were, in fact, Cushites ; for the wife of Moses is 
called aCushite (Ethiopian) woman, in Num. xii. 1. 
And the Cushites were an Arab tribe, descended 
from Cush the son of Ham, who peopled the 
southern part of Arabia, as well as the opposite 
region of Africa across the Red Sea. Hobab, 
with his particular family or sept, appears to have 
accepted the invitation of Moses to cast in his lot 
with the people of Israel ; for the children of the 
Kenite, Moses's " father-in-law," are mentioned as 
occupying a part of the territory of Judah after the 
subjugation of southern Canaan by that tribe, 



HE A THEN NA MES. 449 

(Judges i. 1 6.) And their descendants were evidently 
reckoned among the people of Judah in the time 
of David ; for it was by feigning incursions upon 
them, with others belonging to that tribe, that he 
persuaded Achish, king of Gath, that he had made 
his people Israel utterly to abhor him. But a 
portion of these had, in the second century after 
their settlement in Judah, severed themselves from 
their brethren, and are represented as dwelling in 
tents near Kedesh, in the tribe of Naphtali, w r here 
they were of sufficient importance to be regarded 
as allies by Jabin, the powerful king of Hazor, and 
where the assassination of Sisera, Jabin's general, 
was perpetrated by Jael, wife of their chieftain 
Heber. And from 1 Chron. ii. 55, it would ap- 
pear that the Rechabites, so honourably mentioned 
in the writings of Jeremiah, were a Kenite family. 
The main body of the Kenites, how r ever, remained 
in the Midianitish country, where their position, as 
described by Balaam, was evidently in the rocky 
region, near the Amaiekites. And they are spoken 
of in the Book of Samuel as dwelling among the 
Amaiekites, who probably had by that time spread 
themselves over the country of Midian ; for Saul 
desired them to get them down from among the 
Amaiekites, lest he should destroy them with that 
people ; alleging as his reason for this forbearance 
and warning that they had " shown kindness to 

2F 



450 HE A THEN NAMES. 

the children of Israel when they came out of 
Egypt." It is not stated to what quarter they re- 
tired ; nor are the ultra-Palestinian Kenites men- 
tioned in the Scripture history after the reign of 
Saul. But there is a remarkable story related in 
i Chron. iv. 38-43, concerning a migration of a 
portion of the tribe of Simeon, at a much later 
period, which receives some illustration from what 
we know of the origin and local position of the 
Kenites, and may afford a clue to the discovery of 
their fate. It is recorded that certain princes of 
that tribe, with their families, which had increased 
greatly, " went to the entrance of Gedor, even unto 
the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their 
flocks. And they found fat pasture and good, and 
the land was wide, and great, and peaceable ; for 
they of Ham had dwelt there of old. And these 
written by name [these princes] came in the days 
of Hezekiah king of Judah, and smote their tents, 
and their habitations that were found there, and 
destroyed them utterly unto this day, and dwelt in 
their rooms. And some of them, even of the sons 
of Simeon, five hundred men, went to Mount Seir, 
and they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were 
escaped, and dwelt there unto this day." The 
tribe of Simeon occupied the extreme south-western 
part of Palestine, bordering upon the country over- 
run by Saul in his attack upon the Amalekites, and 



HE A THEX NA ME S. 451 

in his time possessed jointly by them and the 
Kenites, who must have been situated near the 
valley in which he concealed his forces, or he 
could not have communicated with them so readily 
as he did, And the Kenites, as Ave have seen. 
were Cushites, and therefore of the descendants of 
Ham. Both of these facts agree with the descrip- 
tion, in the above passage, of the situation of the 
people attacked by the Simeonites, " on the east 
side of the valley/' 5 and of their lineage, " they of 
Ham/' who ''had dwelt there of old." And if these 
were Kenites, their utter destruction at this parti- 
cular time, which was just before the expatriation 
of the ten tribes by the king of Assyria, would be 
a signal fulfilment of the prophecy of Balaam — 
" Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, [shall 
be for extirpation,] until Asshur shall earn' thee 
away captive." The latter part of the narrative 
of the Chronicler also countenances the sup- 
position that the people first assailed by the Sim- 
eonites were Kenites ; for it appears that after 
their extermination of these, a detachment of their 
body, proceeding further to the south-east, came 
upon and destroyed the remnant of " the Amalek- 
ites who had escaped " from the wars of Saul and 
David, and who, like their Midianite associates, 
were dwelling in the country of Edom. It is very 
probable that when the Amalekites had been 



45 2 HE A THEN NAMES. 

driven out of their land by Saul, the Kenites re- 
turned and occupied their original territory, spread- 
ing themselves over the fertile valley and plain, 
while the fugitive Amalekites took shelter in the 
rocky country and fastnesses near, and in the land 
of the Edomites, and dwelt there until the pro- 
phecy of Balaam concerning them was fulfilled, at 
the same time with that concerning the Kenite — 
" Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter 
end shall be that he perish for ever." 

Although the Kenites were considered Midian- 
ites, from their locality, and religious and political 
connection with the people so called, their actual 
distinction of race, their evident independence, 
and the alliance of one of their principal families 
with that of the leader of Israel, render it probable 
that they took no part in the confederacy against 
the Israelites, formed by the elders, or princes, of 
Midian with Balak, king of Moab. Indeed, it ap- 
pears certain from the words of Saul above referred 
to, addressed to the Kenites of the same region 
some centuries afterwards, that the whole tribe had 
acted kindly towards Israel. For he cannot be 
understood as alluding only to the conduct of 
Jlobab and his family, since their descendants 
were at the time quite distinct from the rest of the 
Kenites, and were settled in the land of Judah. 
We have the satisfaction, therefore, of believing, 



HE A THEN XA MES. 45 3 

on good grounds, that none of this tribe were con- 
cerned in offering the enticement to the people of 
Israel which drew them into sin and rebellion 
against God, or were involved in the consequent 
punishment of the Midianites, inflicted upon them 
in the war waged against them by Moses at God's 
command. 

The name of one of those who were employed, 
according to the wicked counsel of Balaam, in 
effecting the moral and religious corruption of the 
Israelites, is recorded to its perpetual infamy on 
the sacred page. It is that of Cozbi, the Midian- 
itish princess, who was slain by Phinehas. This 
word is pure Hebrew ; and being derived from the 
verb cazab, " to lie or deceive/' means " deception," 
or " deceiver." It may signify the disappointment 
of a parent's expectation by the birth of a daughter 
instead of a son. But it is conceivable that this 
name may have been given from observation of 
proneness to falsehood and deceit in early child- 
hood. Perhaps, in the degraded moral condition 
of the Midianites at the time, such a name may 
have been among them no stigma of disgrace \ but, 
on the contrary, even complimentary. It may have 
been equivalent to "crafty/' or " cunning,'' their 
notion of " clever," or "wise." Thus, according 
to Mr Ferguson, the English surname Packe is 
derived from the Anglo-Saxon pceca, " a deceiver ;" 



454 HE A THEN NAMES, 

and so the local name Paxton — /.<?., Pack's town \ 
and the names Sly, (Slyman,) and Spooner, from 
the Norse s/agr, " cunning,'' and the Anglo-Saxon 
sponere, " enticer," " allurer," respectively.* 

The father of Cozbi was Zur, who is said to 
have been " head over a people, and a chief house 
in Midian," and is named among the five kings of 
Midian who were slain in the war with Israel. Zur, 
again, is the Hebrew word for " rock ;" it occurs as 
the name of a Benjamite of the family of Saul, and 
in various composite names with El, (God,) and 
Shaddai, (Almighty.) It is expressive of strength 
and firmness and stability, as may be understood 
from its Syriac equivalent Cephas, or Greek Peter, 
and the reason assigned for that surname. The 
names of the other kings or chiefs of Midian are 
also Hebrew names, or are interpretable by cog- 
nate Hebrew roots. One of them, Hur, was the 
name of the husband of Miriam, sister of Moses, 
and is found in the Phoenician word Huram, or 
Hiram, name of a king of Tyre. It is probably 
connected in sense with the almost identical Arabic 
word for " free-born" or " noble. 5 ' 

We find the Midianites, at the distance of per- 
haps more than two centuries from the time of 
Moses, still a powerful race, able to oppress the 
Israelites, and ruled over by at least four chiefs, 
* English Surnames, p. 329. 



HE A THEN NAMES. 45 5 

two of whom are called the princes, and two the 
kings of Midian. The princes were Oreb and 
Zeeb, who were slain by the Ephraimites, and gave 
their names to the places where they were slain, 
after the famous defeat of the Midianites by Gideon. 
Oreb is " a raven/' and Zeeb " a wolf;" names 
given, it may be supposed, by warrior-fathers to 
express the hope that their sons would be distin- 
guished by the ferocious qualities of these types of 
birds and beasts of prey. We find the names in 
the Roman families Corvinus and Lupus. They 
are also Greek names ; and Raven, and Crow, and 
"Wolf are common among ourselves, having origin- 
ated most probably as nicknames. Zebah and 
Zalmunna were the kings of Midian in Gideon's 
time. The name of the former is the ordinary 
Hebrew word for " sacrifice," meaning the sacri- 
fice of a slain victim. It has been conjectured 
that this name implies an intention to offer the child 
to whom it was given as a sacrifice to Moloch; 
for we know that the worship of this deity prevailed 
among the neighbouring and kindred tribe of the 
Ammonites. But it may merely perpetuate the 
memory of some extraordinary sacrifice; one per- 
haps offered in fulfilment of a vow on occasion of 
the child's birth. Zalmunna (or Tsalmunna) is 
certainly derived from the word tselem, which be- 
comes tsalm when another word is affixed to it, 



456 HE A THEN NAMES. 

and means "shadow/"' and hence "an image." 
Hence a mountain is called Salmon, from its 
shadowy groves ; and one of David's captains has 
" the name Zalmon. The meaning of the whole 
compound Zalmunna is not clear. It may be " a 
fleeting shadow;" or, if the first part of the word be 
understood in the sense of " image or form," some 
resemblance may be intended to a person of whom 
the latter part is the name. 

No mention is made of the Midianites in the 
Bible history after their defeat, and the invasion of 
their country, by Gideon \ a fact which confirms the 
statement made in the Book of Judges, (viii. 28,) 
that they " lifted up their heads no more." The 
land of Midian, or a portion of it, is, in Solomon's 
reign, apparently represented as belonging to Edom. 
The people, there seems reason to suppose, like 
their allies the Amalekites, had taken refuge among 
the Edomites, and had been absorbed by those 
kindred races. 

The only Amalekite whose name is preserved in 
the Bible is Agag, who was king of the nation when 
it was almost exterminated by Saul. But since 
Agag is mentioned by Balaam as a great king of 
his time, it is probable that, like Ahimelech and 
Pharaoh, this was a name or title common to the 
Amalekite kings. The interpretation most in favour 
is " high" or " great." Agag may have affinity with 



HE A THEN NAMES. 45 7 

Og, the name of the gigantic king of Bashan ; for 
the letters which are represented by A and in 
those words are, in Hebrew, interchangeable. It 
has also been thought related to Ogyges, a legend- 
ary name of one of the earliest Attic kings, to whom 
a Phoenician origin has been ascribed. Ogyges, it 
is suggested, may be connected with Ogen, a prim- 
itive form of Oceanus \ an etymology which is 
favoured by the occurrence of the word Ogygia, as 
the name of the island of Calypso, in the legend 
of Ulysses, preserved by Homer. The words of 
Balaam in the prophecy above referred to seem, 
however, to support the notion of "high," or 
" great/*' as the signification Agag : for this notion 
is evidently dwelt upon in connection with the 
name ; " his king shall be higher than Agag, and 
his kingdom shall be exalted" 

We meet with several Moabitish names in Scrip- 
ture, among which the earliest are those of the 
kings of "Moab, Zippor, and his son Balak. Zippor 
has been already explained. Balak means " waste,'* 
" desolation," and signalizes, most probably, some 
successful- predatory excursion, or vengeful war, of 
the Moabites. This king is celebrated principally 
for his being the occasion of the singular and won- 
derful prophecies of Balaam, whom he sent for 
from Aram, or Syria, from " the river of the land 
of the children of his people,*' and from "the 



458 HE A THEN NAMES. 

mountains of the east/' to lay a curse upon the 
children of Israel. These geographical notices 
indicate the northern part of Mesopotamia, towards 
the sources of the Euphrates, as the country of 
Balaam. And that he came from this direction, 
appears from the fact that Balak, when he went 
to meet him, proceeded to his northern frontier, 
the river Anion. His people, therefore, would be 
of the same locality, and probably of the same 
race with the Syro-Chaldean ancestors of the 
Israelites ; for their country must have been close 
upon Padan-aram, if indeed Padan-aram itself be 
not meant by the terms in which it is described. 
His name is at once interpretable by means of the 
Hebrew language ; it is "destruction of the people." 
Bela, from the verb bala, " to devour, swallow up," 
is the name of the first king of Edom, and of a son 
of Benjamin. Bileam, the name of a town in 
Manasseh, the same word in Hebrew as Balaam, 
and nearer its right pronunciation, is called also 
Ibleam, which expresses the same notion by a 
verbal form, " He [i.e., God] destroys the people." 
It is remarkable that the father of the Edomite 
king Bela, as well as the father of the prophet 
Balaam, was named Bcor, a word which also means 
" destruction," " consumption (as by fire.)" Hence 
sonic Jewish authors, and others, have concluded 
that Bela and Balaam were the same persons, as it 



HEA THEN NAMES. 459 

is quite possible they may have been contempor- 
aries. But the geographical references of the story 
of Balaam are entirely irreconcilable with this 
supposition. Nothing can, with any certainty, be 
inferred from the signification of these names ; 
but the singular approximation in sense of the 
words Balak, Balaam, and Beor, all denoting 
calamity, and the probability that Bela and Beor 
were Edomitish names of the same period, may 
seem to convey an intimation that, during two 
generations, the people of Aram, Edom, and Moab 
were in an unsettled state, sustaining or inflicting 
desolation by war. But in whatever way w r e ac- 
count for the origin of such names, we can hardly 
doubt that a man so thoroughly possessed as 
Balak was with the superstitions of his age, would 
congratulate himself on the augury afforded by the 
name, and father's name, of the great enchanter. 
He who came to him for the purpose of causing by 
his incantations the destruction of Israel was " de- 
struction of the people/' and son of " destruction." 
In the second or third generation after Balak, 
Eglon was . king of Moab, and is known as the 
oppressor of Israel who was assassinated by Ehud 
the Benjamite. Eglon, again, is a Hebrew name, 
formed from egel, " a bull-calf," the feminine of 
which, Eglah, " a heifer," we have in the name of 
one of David's wives. Eglon, if on be understood 



460 HE A THEN NAMES. 

as the augmentative, would mean a " large or fine 
bull-calf/' a name which would probably be given 
to an infant on account of its extraordinary size or 
stoutness. That such was the origin of the name 
in the present instance seems almost certain from 
the fact stated in the history, that " Eglon was a 
very fat man." His maturity had not falsified the 
promise of his infancy. We may observe that 
Vitellius, the well-known name of a Roman em- 
peror, is also formed from Vitulus, " a calf." And 
Egiah has its counterpart in the Greek Damaris, 
the name of one of St Paul's converts at Athens, 
which is the same as Damalis, " a heifer," apparently 
the fictitious name of a female in one of the odes 
of Horace. Bull, and Bullock, will occur to every 
reader as examples of the prevalence of similar 
names among ourselves, and due to our Scandin- 
avian ancestors. 

The most distinguished person of the Moabitish 
race is Ruth, who became the wife of Boaz, and 
ancestress of David. Her name is a contraction of 
radii, which may either be the word for " the act 
of seeing," " sight," and hence, as in English, objec- 
tively, "a sight," " something worth seeing," or 
the word for " friendship," or " a female friend," 
like rcu in Reu-el, "friend of God." If the former 
etymology be adopted, we must ascribe the name 
to the early beauty of the child ; if the latter, it 



HE A THEN NA MES. 46 1 

may be due to the exhibition in infancy of that 
amiable and affectionate disposition which was so 
characteristic of the woman. Orpah, her sister's 
name, is, by a not unusual change of letters, iden- 
tical with Ophrah, " a fawn, or young doe," and so 
is the feminine of Ephron, a Canaanitish name 
already noticed, wjiich means a "roebuck or stag." 

One of David's chief warriors, according to the 
list given in the Book of Chronicles, was Ithmah 
the Moabite. This name is connected with the 
word yathom, " an orphan ; " it has the feminine 
termination, and denotes " orphan-hood," revealing 
so much to us of the personal history of this other- 
wise unknown individual, as to render it less strange 
that he should quit his native land, and take ser- 
vice under a foreign prince. David, however, 
employed many foreigners in his army, several of 
whom he reckoned among his mighty men, as 
Zelek the Ammonite, a name of uncertain deriva- 
tion; Igal, (p. 180,) a Syrian of Zobah; and Ittai 
(p. 236) the Gittite, and Uriah (p. 425) the Hit- 
tite, who are both distinguished in his history. 
The Cherethites and Pelethites were also, as is 
generally understood, a body of foreign mercen- 
aries who acted as his guard, 

The last Moabitish name is that of the king in 
whose reign the country of Moab was invaded by 
Jehoram, son of Ahaz, king of Israel, in conjunc- 



462 HE A THEN NAMES. 

tion with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and the 
king of Edom, and who, being besieged by them, in 
desperation offered up his eldest son as a sacrifice 
upon the wall of his city. His name was Mesha, 
which signifies "deliverance/' being formed from the 
same verb as Hoshea. It is a Hebrew name, and is 
found also in the genealogy of the tribe of Judah. 
The Ammonites were closely related to the 
Moabites by their origin, and are repeatedly men- 
tioned as in alliance with them. Few of their 
names are recorded. One just referred to, Zelek, 
David's officer, has no known Hebrew root, but 
the others are pure Hebrew. Nahash was the 
king of the Ammonites, whose oppression of Israel 
led to the desire of a king, and who was signally 
defeated by Saul. Another of the same name was 
a friend and ally of David's. This name, meaning 
" a serpent," and attributed in the Book of Chron- 
icles to the mother of David, has already been 
discussed. The son of the second king Nahash, 
was Hanun, who insulted David's ambassadors, 
and thereby provoked an invasion which ended in 
the subjugation of his country by David, and in 
his own deposition, and probably death. Hanun 
belongs to the large class of names derived from 
the verb hanan^ " to be gracious," "to favour." 
It means " favoured," and is the name of two Jews 
mentioned by Nehemiah. And it is doubtless 



HE A THEN NAMES. 463 

identical with the well-known Carthaginian name 
Hanno. It would be given to a child in a sense 
corresponding to the epithet " highly favoured," as 
conferred on the Virgin Mary ; expressing a parent's 
desire on behalf of his son, that he might receive 
what are called the gifts of nature, or of fortune, 
or his conviction that he would inherit them by 
the favour of his God. In Hanun's case, evidently, 
no such desire or conviction was realized, for he 
was singularly destitute of wisdom, was the prey of 
evil counsellors, and became the miserable victim 
of his own folly and theirs. 

Another Ammonite of the same period was also 
a son of Nahash of Rabbah, and is honourably 
mentioned among those who assisted David with 
supplies on occasion of his flight from Absalom. 
We can hardly suppose that he was of the royal 
house, and brother of Hanun ; but it is probable 
that Nahash was a common name among the 
Ammonites. This man's name was Shobi, which 
means " one who takes captive," and seems there- 
fore to intimate a military parentage. We find, 
however, its equivalent, with perhaps the substitu- 
tion of the abbreviation of J ah for the mere for- 
mative i in Shobai, the name of the head of a 
Levitical family recorded in the lists of Ezra and 
Nehemiah. The word so read signifies " Jehovah 
makes captive," and is appropriate enough to the 



464 HE A THEN NAMES. 

circumstances in which we find this family. Per- 
haps it is not that of a remote ancestor, but, like 
others in these lists, that of the existing chief, or 
his father, who may have been born at the time of 
the earlier captivity of Judah. 

Naamah, an Ammonitess, was the mother of Re- 
hoboam, and therefore the w T ife of Solomon. She 
could not, however, have been one of the women 
of the Ammonites whom, with many of other hea- 
then nations, he is stated to have taken as wives 
when he was old. For Rehoboam was forty-one 
years old when he came to the throne ; and there- 
fore, since Solomon reigned forty years, he must 
have been born in the last year of David's reign ; 
so that Naamah was the wife of Solomon long 
before he married Pharaoh's daughter, who was 
certainly his queen. It must be supposed that 
she died long before this marriage ; and as she 
had become his wife during his father's lifetime, 
we may reasonably conclude that he married her 
with David's consent, and that she was not an 
idolatress, but a proselyte to the Israelitish religion. 
These suppositions are strengthened by the cir- 
cumstance just noticed among the late events of 
David's reign — the kindness experienced by him 
in his adversity from the Ammonite Shobi. What 
more probable than that Naamah, whom Solomon 
must have married not long after this occurrence, 



HE A THEN NAMES. 465 

was of the family of this evidently wealthy and 
distinguished inhabitant of the chief city of Am- 
nion '? Her name is of the, same derivation with 
Naomi, and the Syrian Xaaman, and, like the 
latter, means " pleasant," in the sense of " dear/' 
or " darling." It is also one of the earliest female 
names recorded in Scripture ; being that of the 
daughter of Lamech and his wife Zillah. 

It may seem unjust to the memory of the patri- 
arch Job, his family, and friends, to class their 
names with those of the heathen • but heathen, in 
the sense of Gentile, they certainly were, as not 
belonging to the descendants of Abraham in the 
line of Isaac and Jacob. The land of Uz, where 
Job lived, was more probably an extensive region, 
so denominated from Uz the son of Aram, than 
the district afterwards called Uz, as peopled by 
the posterity of Uz the son of Seir, and containing, 
or having partly within its limits, the land of Edom 
or Idumea, (compare Gen. x. 23, with xxxvi. 20, 
21, 28, and Jer. xxv. 20, with Lev. iv. 21.) For 
Job is said to have been " the greatest of ail the 
men of the East;" and this expression, " sons, or 
children of the East," seems to be a name for all 
the remoter nations and tribes inhabiting the 
country which included the vast Syrian and Ara- 
bian deserts east of the Jordan. It is also certain 
that he lived at no great distance from the Chal- 

2 G 



466 HE A THEN NAMES. 

daeans and Saltans, who bordered respectively on 
die Euphrates and the Arabian Gulf. Two of his 
. friends, however, came from regions which lay 
near the land of Edom, — Eliphaz from Teman, so 
called from a grandson of Esau ; and Bildad the 
Shuhite, from a district named after a son of 
Abraham by Keturah. The position of Naamah, 
whence came Zophar. the Naamathite, is more 
doubtful; but the name " pleasant" would ap- 
pear to designate that part of the Arabian pen- 
insula afterwards known as Arabia Felix, or one 
of the oases which are found in Arabia Deserta, 
as well as in the great African Sahara. The 
names of these personages seem therefore to be- 
long to dialects which differed little in their time 
from Hebrew, but the names of the patriarch and 
his daughters to a language which had a more 
remote affinity with it. As, however, the Book of 
Job is generally allowed to be a translation, and 
to have been originally written in Arabic, or, at 
any rate, is a report in Hebrew of dialogues car- 
ried on in another language, there is no difficulty 
in the supposition that the names are either trans- 
lated into Hebrew, or considerably Hebraized. 
Eliphaz and Elihu are compounds with the Divine 
name El. Eliphaz means "God is precious or 
pure," from poz % " fine gold," a word used in the 
poem itself (Job xxviii. 17) in this sense, and in 



HE A THEN NAMES. 467 

Cant. v. 7, as an epithet attached to another word 
for gold. Elihu is a name belonging to several 
Israelites, and signifies, " He is my .God," or 
" (whose) God (is) He?" The father of this per- 
sonage is stated to have been Barachel the Buzite, 
of the kindred of Ram. Barachel means, "(whom) 
God hath blessed," and has its equivalent in Bere- 
chiah, " whom Jehovah hath blessed," Jeberechiah, 
"Jehovah blesseth him." His patronymic, Buzite, 
would lead us to conclude that he was a descen- 
dant of Nahor, brother of Abraham, in the line of 
Buz, his second son, who probably had migrated 
into Arabia; since we find Buz mentioned in close 
connection with Teman and Dedan, which were 
certainly Arabian tribes, (Jer. xxv. 2, 3 ; Isa. xxi. 
1-3.) But he is said to be of the kindred or 
rather of the family of Ram, who is doubtless the 
same with Aram son of Kemuel, the third son of 
Nahor, and named in the lists of the sons of 
Nahor, as evidently possessing a patriarchal cha- 
racter. He was probably associated with his uncle 
Buz in his migration, and gave his name to one of 
the families of the tribe which had the general ap- 
pellation of Buzite. The word Bildad is variously 
interpreted, as are other compounds of similar 
formation, such as Bishlam, Bilsham, Bidkar, Bim- 
har • some understanding the initial B as the pre- 
position in, as in the name Beriah, " in calamity ; " 



468 HE A THEN NA MES. 

and others supposing the first syllable to be the 
word ben, " son/ 7 incorporated, by elision of //, 
with the first syllable of the second word. Thus, 
on the former principle, Bishlam would be, " in 
peace," on the latter, "the son of peace." There 
is no known Hebrew root from which to form 
Bildad, but an Arabic verb, ladad, signifies " to 
strive;" so that Bildad maybe either "in strife,' 7 
i.e., born in strife, or " son of strife." The latter 
seems on the whole preferable. Zophar may be 
derived from a verb which occurs once in the 
Hebrew Scripture, in the sense of " hasten away," 
rendered " depart early " in our version of Judges 
vii. 3. This is also an Arabic root, and is con- 
nected with Zippor and Zipporah, names already 
discussed. The name of the principal personage 
(Hiyob) is so plainly referable to a Hebrew verb, 
hayab) signifying " to hate," " to be an enemy," 
as a passive form of this verb in the sense of 
" harassed," " persecuted," that many have con- 
sidered it to be an altogether poetic or fictitious 
name, adapted to his circumstances as represented 
in the poem. Either it is so, or the Hebrew word 
so nearly approximated to the actual name in form 
and sound as to suggest to the writer, or translator, 
its adoption for the purpose of rendering the name 
of the patriarch expressive of his fate and feelings. 
(Sec Job vii. 12-21, ix. 12-18, x. 2, 3, 16, 17, xiii. 



HE A THEN NAMES. 469 

21-27, x ^ v - 13—175 xvi. n-14, xix. 6-12, xxiii. 15, 
16, xxx. 1-24.) 

In the conclusion of the book we find recorded the 
names which Job gave to his three daughters, born to 
him after the return of his prosperity. The mention 
of their names, rather than those of their seven bre- 
thren, can only be accounted for by their celebrity 
for extraordinary beauty and ample dowries, and 
thus becomes a testimony in favour of the histori- 
cal character of the narrative portion of the book. 
There is nothing in the significance of the names 
themselves to form a sufficient reason for their 
preservation. Jemima, the name of the eldest, 
is generally explained by reference to an Arabic 
word, as meaning "dove." Keziahis certainly the 
word which in the plural is rendered Cassia, the 
bark of an Arabian shrub used for perfumes. It may 
be compared with Bashemath, the name of Esau's 
wife, the daughter of Ishmael, and also of a daugh- 
ter of Solomon, which means "fragrant" or "per- 
fumed/"' from basam, an aromatic plant — the "bal- 
sam." Kerenhappuch, the name of Job's third 
daughter, has the strange meaning, " horn of 
paint," that is, " box of paint/' vessels containing 
liquids being frequently made of horn, and called 
"horns." The name, like the other two, is ap- 
parently due to some trivial occurrence, or expres- 
sion, connected with early infancy. The Septua- 



470 HE A THEN NAMES. 

gint renders the name as equivalent to the classical 
" Amalthaea's horn," — the cornucopiae, or horn of 
plenty, the emblem of fruitfulness and abundance. 
The same authority regards Jemima as derived 
from the Hebrew word for "day," so that her 
name would mean " bright or beautiful as day." 

In the interpretation of Egyptian names oc- 
curring in Scripture we can derive little assist- 
ance from Hebrew, except upon the supposition 
that some of them, like Moses, are the nearest 
practicable approximation of sound and sense in 
Hebrew, or some cognate dialect, to the actual 
Egyptian words. Thus, Hagar, the name of Ab- 
raham's Egyptian bondmaid, the mother of Ish- 
mael, so closely resembles the root of the Arabic 
word Hegira, " flight," familiar to us in the history 
of Mohammed, that it may be taken as an adapta- 
tion of her original name to the principal circum- 
stances of her life, and understood to mean "fugi- 
tive." A similar instance of a Hebraized Egyptian 
word is generally thought to occur in the procla- 
mation ordered by Pharaoh to be made before 
Joseph. The word given is Abrech, which our 
version renders " bow the knee." It is, by permu- 
tation of its first letter with another often inter- 
changed with it, an imperative form of the Hebrew 
word barach) "to bend the knee." An alternative 
is offered in the margin — "tender father," and 



HE A THEN NA MES. 4 7 i 

Luther translates it, " father of the country," each 
of these interpretations supposing the Semitic ab, 
father, to be represented in the word. The name, 
or title, Zaphnath Paaneah, bestowed by Pharaoh 
on Joseph, has also been considered by some a 
reduction of Egyptian words to a Hebrew form, as 
nearly as possible expressive of the idea in the 
original language. The Rabbinical paraphrasers, 
and the Syrian version, render it " revealer of the 
secret,'' 1 — the word Zaphnath being approximative 
to the Hebrew root\zapkan (tsaphan^) "to con- 
ceal/' This is also said, in our margin, to be the 
meaning in Coptic. It appears, however, that the 
nearest approach in Coptic to the words, as writ- 
ten in the Septuagint, is " Saviour of the age," — 
" Saviour of the world," — as explained by Jerome 
and some later scholars. Asenath, the name of 
Joseph's wife, daughter of the priest of On, is re- 
ferred by Gesenius for its origin, in part, to Neith, 
an Egyptian goddess, who had the attributes of 
the Minerva of Roman and Greek mythology. 
Pharaoh, the name given to almost all the kings of 
Egypt, from the earliest to the latest mention of 
them in the Bible, is generally accepted in the 
sense ascribed to it by Josephus and other writers, 
as "king," or " supreme lord." It apparently 
enters into the composition of the names Potiphar 
and Potipherah, which we find ascribed to officers 



472 HE A THEN NAMES. 

of high rank in the Egyptian state, pot being sup- 
posed to mean officer or minister. Some, however, 
take pherah to be a word for the sun, and consider 
Poti-pherah as equivalent to " priest of On," the 
dignity ascribed to this personage \ On being, 
according to Cyril, an Egyptian term for the sun. 
That Pharaoh is not, strictly speaking, a proper 
name, appears probable from the names Pharaoh- 
Necho, and Pharaoh-Hophra, attributed to two 
kings in the later period of Scripture history. 
Necho and Hophra were their real proper names, 
as we learn from Herodotus, who calls them Necos 
and Apries, evidently meaning the same persons, 
and placing them in the same historical epoch. 
Herodotus gives, indeed, the name Pheron to one 
of the earlier kings ; but this king is differently 
named by Diodorus Siculus, a later Greek his- 
torian. In another passage in his account of 
Egypt, Herodotus gives us to understand that the 
word pirom, which he writes pirotnis, was applied 
to personages of high distinction, such as the high 
priests, and says that it signifies an honest and 
virtuous man. There seems good ground for the 
opinion that this is the origin of the name or title 
Phaxaoh. We find in Hebrew the word pcraoth, 
or paroth) which occurs in only two passages, and 
is variously interpreted. Our version renders it, 
in Deut. xxxii. c, 2, "revenges," and, in Judges 



HE A THEN NAMES, 473 

v. 2, " avenging." But the Septuagint renders it 
" princes,'"' or " chiefs f and this sense is adopted 
by scholars of great eminence, who compare the 
word and its root, para, which is found in Judges 
v. 2, with a similar Arabic word for prince, the 
root of which is also para, which means " to keep 
the lead,''' or " to be at the head." The existence 
of such a word in these languages may account for 
the form which the Egyptian title takes in Hebrew 
writings, so as to render it expressive of the same 
idea to Hebrew minds which it involved in its 
original Egyptian form. There was a city in the 
tribe of Ephraim called Pirathon, which probably 
means "head city;" and a woman named Bithiah 
(daughter of Jehovah) married to one Mered, of 
the tribe of Judah, is said to have been the 
daughter of Pharaoh. This Pharaoh may have 
been an Israelite, deriving his name from the root 
before mentioned. If we suppose him to have 
been really a king of Egypt, which is not altogether 
inconceivable, the name of the daughter may be 
understood to imply her conversion to the Israel- 
itish faith, and admission into the bond of the 
covenant. 

Phinehas, the name of the grandson of Aaron, 
and afterwards of the son of Eli, has been pro- 
nounced an Egyptian word by a high authority in 
Egyptian literature. Its first syllable Pi is perhaps 



474 HE A THEN NAMES. 

the same as that in Pi-hahiroth, Pithom, Pi-beseth, 
or Pirom. The mother of Phinehas was the daugh- 
ter of Putiel. In this name the first syllable Put is 
the same with the Egyptian Pot in Potiphar and 
Potipherah. Lightfoot conjectures, from the ad- 
dition of the Hebrew el, that this person was an 
Egyptian, who had become a proselyte to the 
Hebrew religion. 

The queen of a king of Egypt, in Solomon's 
reign, is called Tahpenes, and this, with some vari- 
ations of form, is also the name given to a city in 
Egypt, called Taphne in the Septuagint, and iden- 
tified by some with the city Daphne, near Pelusium, 
a seaport on the eastern branch of the Delta of 
the Nile. That it was a frontier town may be 
inferred from the narrative of Jeremiah, (xliii. 7,) 
and it is thought to have been the same with 
Hanes, mentioned also apparently as a border 
town by Isaiah, (xxx. 4.) Tahpanhes becomes, by 
a very admissible transposition, Taph-hanes, which, 
it is easy to see, may be Hanes in composition 
with the word Taph, whatever that may mean ; and, 
as is the case with towns and villages among our- 
selves, might sometimes be written in full, and 
sometimes mentioned only by the second, and pro- 
bably distinctive, portion of its name. This Hanes 
is almost certainly the city called Anysis by Hero- 
dotus, who, we may observe, mentions a king of 



HE A THEN NAMES. 475 

Egypt, a native of that city, whose name was also 
Anysis — a singular coincidence with the fact known 
from Scripture, that a queen of Egypt bore the 
name of the same city, expressed in another form. 
The king of Egypt who, in the reign of Reho- 
boam, invaded Judaea with a mighty host, and 
despoiled the temple, is called Shishak; in the 
Septuagint, Susachim. There wants even a plau- 
sible conjecture as to the meaning of this name. 
Another king, in a later age, the contemporary and 
ally of Hoshea, the last king of Israel, and of 
Hezekiah, king of Judah, is named So, and in 
the Vatican copy of the Septuagint, Segor. The 
meaning "chief," or "prince," has been assigned 
to this name, but on slight grounds. He is con- 
sidered by the eminent chronologists, Usher and 
Marsham, to have been the same with Sabacho, a 
king of Ethiopia, who, Herodotus tells us, defeated 
and expelled the Anysis above mentioned, and after 
ruling over Egypt fifty years, retired to his own 
% country, and was succeeded by Anysis, who was 
still living. If this be the case, Anysis was pro- 
bably the king of Egypt, called Pharaoh in Scrip- 
ture, on whom Rabshakeh represented Hezekiah as 
depending for aid against the king of Assyria, and 
reliance on whom was denounced by the prophet 
Isaiah. It may therefore be his name, as well as 
that of his native town, which we find recorded in 



476 HE A THEN NAMES. 

the passage of the prophet's writings already re- 
ferred to — " His princes were at Zoar, and his am- 
bassadors came to Hanes." As Anysis must have 
been at this time extremely old, there is nothing 
repugnant to this supposition in the fact that Her- 
odotus places the miraculous defeat of Sennache- 
rib, (which he represents as having happened near 
Pelusium, in Egypt,) in the reign of Sethon, suc- 
cessor of Anysis, especially as his account certainly 
implies that it occurred very early in that reign. 

A king of Ethiopia, named Tirhakah, is men- 
tioned in connection with these events. But he 
was probably an Arabian ; for Cush, the word for 
Ethiopia, is applied, as we have seen, to the south- 
ern part of the great Arabian peninsula. Simonis 
derives this name from an Arabic word, and states 
its meaning to be " exalted." At an earlier period 
we read of an invasion of Judaea, by a king of the 
same country, called Zerah. This is a name of 
repeated occurrence in Hebrew, and clearly means 
" sunrise." Its signification in the cognate Arabic 
was probably the same. 

The Persian names which occur in the later 
books of the Old Testament cannot be interpreted 
by any of the languages hitherto referred to. The 
language in use in Persia at the date of these 
books was different from that of earlier and later 
times. The old Zendic seems to have fallen into 



HE A THEN NAMES. 477 

disuse after the severance of Persia from the As- 
syrian dominion, by the revolt of Arbaces the 
Mede, about B.C. 820 ; and the introduction of 
Arabic, which forms a considerable element of the 
modern Persian, did not take place until the Mo- 
hammedan conquest in the seventh century of our 
era. But the meaning of some of the principal 
Persian names may be gathered from various 
sources. Thus it is stated by several Greek 
authors that Cyrus, in Hebrew, Koresh, signifies 
"the sun." Such a name, emblematical of high 
dignity and extensive dominion, corroborates, to 
some extent, the account given of the earlier years 
of this great prince by Herodotus, who states that 
he had another name during his boyhood, and that 
this was given him after his recognition as the heir 
of the Median kingdom. The name Darius — in 
Hebrew, Dareyavesh — is stated by Herodotus to 
be equivalent to the Greek word Herxeias, which 
is of doubtful derivation, and may mean "the 
worker," or "the restrainer," "the controller." In 
the latter sense it would have nearly the same 
meaning with Hector, the name of the famous 
Trojan hero of the Iliad. Herodotus, however, 
does not appear to have been a very profound 
Persian scholar, and the name is now generally 
supposed to be derived from Dara, "king." His 
explanation of the names Xerxes and Artaxerxes 



473 HE A THEN NAMES. 

is perhaps more nearly correct. The former, he 
says, is "warrior," and the latter " great warrior." 
The word Art is found at the beginning of many 
Persian names, as Artabanus, Artaphernes, &c, in 
the sense of " great," or " mighty." Artaxerxes, 
which in the Book of Ezra is written Artachshast 
and Artachshasta, is, in the latter portion of the 
word, according to Gesenius, the Zendic Kshethro, 
also Sherao, " king." 

In Ahashuerus, (Heb. Ahashverosh,) also, the 
first part of the word, a/ms/i, is doubtless signifi- 
cant of "greatness," or "excellence." It is found 
in the word which is rendered " lieutenants " and 
which certainly means "high satraps," and in a 
compound translated " camels," but which Gesenius 
considers as meaning " noble mules," and ex- 
plained by the following words, " sons of drome- 
daries." The latter part of the name, according 
to the same authority, may be zwares/i, which, in 
the Pelvi, or Pehlavi language, as the middle Per- 
sian is called, signifies " hero." Vashti, the name 
of the queen of Ahashuerus, is thought to mean 
" beautiful." Esther, the Persian name for her 
successor, the Jewish maiden Hadassah, is taken 
by most to be the Persian equivalent for her ori- 
ginal Hebrew name, " Myrtle;" but most Jewish 
expositors state that it has the meaning of the 
similar Greek word Aster, " a star." Haman, the 



HE A THEX NAMES. 4 79 

name of the Agagite who planned the total extir- 
pation of the Jews, is said to mean " alone," or 
11 unique.'" probably in the sense of " distin- 
guished;' or " incomparable.''' The Jews, who held 
his memory in greater detestation than that of any 
other enemy of their race, would doubtless, if such 
be its meaning, accept his name, originally intended 
as an augury of supreme excellence or honour, as 
significant of his unparalleled wickedness and signal 
overthrow. 

Many other Persian names are found in the 
Books of Esther and Ezra, but few readers would 
care to enter upon the discussion of them, for 
little interest attaches to the persons who bore 
them • and they are, for the most part, of uncertain 
etymology. 

Many names of heathens are written in the 
Book of God. Most of them designate persons 
more or less conspicuous for their enmity to 
God's people. Xot a few, however, have found 
honourable mention as the names of those who 
shewed favour to the chosen race, and were 
reckoned among their helpers and benefactors. 
Every- name of either class is registered in an im- 
perishable record, graven as on the rock for ever, 
written as by the finger of God. And thus, in 
one sense, is fulfilled the declaration made to the 
great Patriarch of the ancient Church — "I will 



480 HE A THEN NA MES. 

bless them that bless thee, and curse him that 
curseth thee." 

But, whatever may have been the character of 
each heathen whose name is chronicled on the 
sacred page, it is certain that he had his place 
there, and had his place in life, and in time, as 
surely as any one of God's truest servants, by 
Divine appointment, for the accomplishment of a 
Divine purpose. Our God is the God of all the 
earth. He is the master to whom every human 
being standeth or falleth. Although a man may 
be without the pale of the visible church, he is not 
without the pale of God's moral and spiritual 
government, nor beyond the range of His mercy. 
His soul is the object of Divine notice and care; 
it possesses an indestructible identity ; and it has 
its own special history. 

From the circumstances in which many of those 
heathen were placed whose names are mentioned 
in Scripture, we are enabled to conjecture the na- 
ture, and the amount, of the opportunities afforded 
them of acquainting themselves with the revelation 
which God had made of His existence, and attri- 
butes, and will. Passing from these to the contem- 
plation of the countless myriads of heathen in those 
limes, and in all times, whose names are only 
"known, but severally and perfectly known to God, 
exist in no earthly record, but are written in the 



HE A THEN NA MES. 48 1 

books which shall be opened at the judgment-day, 
we are bound to believe, on the testimony of the 
word of truth, that each of them stands related to 
some manifestation of God, to some spiritual dis- 
pensation which will be the measure of his respon- 
sibility, and the standard of his judgment* before 
the tribunal of the Omniscient and All-merciful. 

Let us venture to indulge the hope, permitted and, 
indeed, encouraged as it is by Scripture, that, in that 
"great and dreadful day of the Lord," when "God 
shall judge the secrets of all men by Jesus Christ," 
when " the dead shall be judged out of those things 
which were written in the books, according to their 
works/' the names of many even from among the 
heathen will be found written in the Book of Life. 
* Rom. i. 19, 20 ; ii. 14, 15. 



2 H 



XII. 




NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

HE proper names of persons mentioned 
in the New Testament, and living in the 
gospel age, will be most naturally and 
conveniently considered under three divisions, sup- 
plied by the languages to which they almost exclu- 
sively belong — Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. 

Some of the most important of those belonging . 
to the class of Hebrew names have already been 
discussed — the significant, though not uncommon, 
name divinely given to our Lord, and that of His 
forerunner the Baptist, and several of those be- 
stowed by Him as surnames on His apostles, under 
the head of sacramental names \ Joseph, as a birth- 
name 5 and Zacharias and Elizabeth, as names 
compounded of the names of God, — Jah, and El 
respectively. The first Hebrew name in the New 
Testament not already noticed, although it occurs 
in the Old Testament, is Mary, which had evidently 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 483 

become a popular name at the period in which the 
gospel history commences. It is written in the 
Greek of the evangelists in the forms Maria and 
Mariam, the latter being that employed in the 
Septuagint to represent Miriam, the name of the 
sister of Moses, and of another person mentioned 
in the genealogy of Judah in 1 Chron. iv. 17. 
Mary is doubtless the same as Miriam. This 
name belongs to a family of words having different 
root-forms, but the original and pervading sense of 
which appears to be " bitterness," and hence is 
derived the notion of " trouble, sorrow, disobedience, 
rebellion." Marah, the name of the region of 
bitter waters reached by the Israelites three days 
after the passage of the Red Sea, preserves the 
primitive meaning; and Mara, (another form,) the 
name which Naomi in her affliction desired to sub- 
stitute for her own, is an example of the derivative. 
Other proper names of this group expressive of 
distress and grief are Merari, the name of a son of 
Levi, Meraiah, Meraioth, Imrah, in the lists of 
Chronicles and Nehemiah. Nimrod and Mered, 
in the same connexion, are significant of rebellion. 
But it is to be observed that the Meraioth of ver, 
15 in Neh. xii. is almost certainly the same 
with the person called Meremoth in ver. 3, and 
mentioned by this name as a priest, the son of 
Uriah, in various other passages of this book. 



484 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

Now, Meraioth means " afflictions/' or something 
calamitous or bad ; but Meremoth, " exaltations," 
implying prosperity. Hence we may fairly con- 
jecture, in accordance with the repeatedly-noticed 
propensity of the Hebrews to recognize distant 
affinities in proper names, that the word Meraioth 
is, by this synonym, tacitly referred for its ori- 
gin not to the primitive sense of " bitter," but 
to another word of the same form and sound, of 
which an example has been given in Mamre, 
(p. 423,) and which means "to rise," or "lift up 
one's self." And thus a name intimating a state of 
adversity, when given at birth, might be understood 
as possessing quite an opposite signification, in 
virtue of its equivocal derivation, when circum- 
stances changed for the better in after-life ; and, in 
this case, appears to have passed into an equivalent, 
about the well-omened meaning of which there 
could be no mistake. So that there seems to be a 
reasonable foundation for the opinion of Simonis, 
that the name Miriam was given in allusion to the 
affliction of Israel in Egypt, when, as is stated in 
Exod. i. 14, the Egyptians "made their lives bitter 
with hard bondage ;" but, that it may also be un- 
derstood as having a tacit reference to the root 
mara y " to rise," the equivalent to which, ra?n, is 
found in the names of her father Am-ram, " the 
people is exalted," a name probably given in believ- 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 485 

ing expectation of the fulfilment of the great patri- 
archal promise. There is no reason for supposing 
that this name, Miriam, or Mary, was selected for 
their daughter by the parents of the blessed Virgin 
because of its significance. It is sufficiently ac- 
counted for, as in other cases, by its existence in the 
ancient annals of the nation as a well-known and 
honoured name, that of the sister of the great law- 
giver. It was however, in both its possible uses, 
as remarkably appropriate to the principal circum- 
stances of her history. She was, like her affianced 
husband, in a humble condition. And if she was 
also, as is almost certain, of the royal house of 
David, whose " tabernacle had now fallen down " 
and was in ruins, her name "Miriam, " affliction," 
would express the contrast of the lowliness and 
humiliation of her outward state with her princely 
origin. On the other hand, the principle of affinity 
in form and sound suggesting the idea of the verb 
mara, " to rise," the name might serve to represent 
her exaltation when so " highly favoured" of God 
as to be chosen for the medium of the incarnation 
of His Son. And we may observe in this instance, 
as in those of Zacharias, Elizabeth, and John, that 
the ideas involved in the name appear very dis- 
tinctly in the hymn ascribed to her as composed 
on occasion of her visit to Elizabeth ; indeed they 
form the principal sentiment and subject of the 



486 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

hymn : " He hath regarded the low estate of his 
handmaiden : for, behold, from henceforth all gene- 
rations shall call me blessed. . . . He hath put 
down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them 
of low degree." 

Anna, the name of the aged prophetess who, 
with Simeon, acknowledged the infant Redeemer 
in the temple, is the same with the Hannah of the 
Old Testament, and means " favour or grace." It 
is employed as a Phoenician name by Virgil, who 
assigns it to the sister of Dido, queen of Carthage, 
otherwise called by him Elissa, which is also evi- 
dently as much Hebrew as Phoenician. The father 
of Anna was Phanuel. This name is identical 
with Penuel, the name given by Jacob to the place 
where he wrestled with the angel, and signifying 
" the face of God," or " appearance of God." It 
is ascribed to two persons in the Old Testament, 
one of the tribe of Judah, and the other of Benja- 
min. Simeon, or Simon, first occurring as the 
name of Jacob's second son, is the most common 
of all the proper names in the New Testament. 
Ten persons are mentioned as bearing this name. 
Its prevalence, and that of the name Judas, which 
belongs to four different persons, may perhaps be 
accounted for by the celebrity of the brothers judas 
and Simon Maccabeus, the heroes of the Jewish 
victories over the armies of Antiochus Epiphanes, 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 4§7 

and sovereign princes of Judea in the second cen- 
tury before our era. 

Simon the apostle, to whom our Lord gave the 
sacramental name Cephas, — in Greek, Peter, 
"stone or rock/' — is also called Bar-jona. Bar is 
the Aramaic word for " son," which had now super- 
seded, in the language of Palestine, the Hebrew 
Ben. Bar-jona, son of Jonah, is added to Simon 
to distinguish the apostle from others called Simon ; 
but we find it is used only in solemn addresses, 
evidently for the purpose of rendering emphatic 
the designation of the individual The apostle 
Bartholomew is never mentioned by any other 
name than this, which means son of Tolmai, 
noticed before as the name of a Canaanite, and of 
a Syrian king. But there is good reason for be- 
lieving that he is identical with Nathanael, (God 
hath given,) who, in his call to discipleship, and 
his last appearance as so named, is associated with 
none but apostles. St Mark informs us that the 
blind beggar of Jericho, healed by our Lord, was 
named Bartimeus, explaining, as for persons un- 
acquainted with Syriac, that this means " son of 
Timeus f but he gives him no other name. 
Similarly Barabbas the robber is denominated by 
this name alone — a singular name, meaning " son 
of (his) father," and one which we may imagine 
such a character adopting to conceal his real parent- 



488 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

age. Or it may have come to be the name of one 
whose paternal parentage was uncertain. Bar-jesus 
the sorcerer also has really no distinctly proper 
name ; Elymas, the name ascribed to him, being, as 
explained by the evangelist, a title denoting his art 
or profession. 

Two persons whose proper names were Joseph 
and Judas are called also Barsabas. From their 
connection and character, it seems most likely that 
they were brothers, sons of one Sabas, in Hebrew, 
Sheba, "oak," a name attaching to persons and 
places in the Old Testament. Barnabas, " son of 
consolation," is, like the surnames given by our 
Lord, indicative of character, and became the sole 
name by which the apostle was known on whom it 
was conferred by his brethren. 

Four names belonging to the great patriarchal 
family are found in the lists of the apostles, Simeon 
or Simon, Levi, who is undoubtedly the same as 
Matthew, Judas or Judah, and James or Jacob. 
Both the names of the evangelist Matthew are 
Hebrew. Matthew is Mattathiah, more common 
in the form Mattaniah, and meaning " gift of Je- 
hovah," a sentiment presented in many Hebrew 
names, and having its parallel in perhaps all lan- 
guages, (p. 146.) Thomas, "one of twins," is inter- 
preted by a Greek equivalent, Didymus. One whom 
Mark names Thaddeus only is stated by Matthew 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 489 

to have been sumamed Thaddeus, his original name 
being Lebbeus. This is the same person whom 
Luke calls " Judas the brother of James," and who 
is spoken of by John as "Judas," not Iscariot. The 
word Judah, oxjehndah^ " praise/' is so closely con- 
nected with todah, the Hebrew word in use for 
the same idea, and from the same root, that the 
probability is that Judas and Thaddeus differ only 
in form. Lebbeus appears much more like a sur- 
name than Thaddeus, its meaning, if derived from 
leb, " heart," being " courageous," like the Syriac 
levivo, or intelligent, like the Latin " cordatus ;" and 
if derived from lebi, "lion," it would be " lion-like," 
" lion-hearted/' ccear-de-lion. The character of the 
writer of the epistle which bears the name of Jude, 
brother of James, is entirely in accordance with 
a surname denoting firmness, boldness, and just 
severity. The substitution of the form Thaddeus 
for Judas in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark 
may be accounted for by the ignominy and odium 
which, in the minds of the immediate followers of 
Christ, would be associated with the name Judas, 
as that of his betrayer. In time this feeling would 
greatly subside, nor would the next generation of 
Christians be equally sensitive. Hence a later 
writer, like Luke, and the apostle John, and Judas 
himself, writing at an advanced period of the apos- 
tolic age, might be expected to recur to the original 



490 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

form of the name. Some slight internal testimony 
is thus borne to the respective dates usually assigned 
.to the Gospels of Matthew and John, and the 
Epistle of Jude, and to the authorship as well as 
early date of the Gospel of Mark, who is generally 
supposed to have written under the direction of 
Peter, and by some, with good reason, to have been 
the second of the evangelists in order of time. 

Zebedee, or Zebedeus, the name of the father 
of James and John, is the Zabdi or Zebadiah of 
the Old Testament. Names compounded with 
zabad, " He gave," were very common among the 
Israelites, and belong to the extensive class re- 
cently noticed, in which children are represented 
as " a heritage and gift that cometh of the Lord." 
Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, whose daughter 
was restored to life by our Lord, has the name 
Jair, first mentioned as that of a successful chief- 
tain of the tribe of Manasseh, and next as that of 
a judge of Israel, a Gileadite belonging to the 
same tribe. Its meaning is plainly * He shall 
enlighten." But this may be either a prayer that 
God shall, from the birth of a child, or by His 
means, give " light" — i.e., prosperity — to the family, 
or the expression of a hope that the child shall 
prove a " light" or "blessing" to others. The 
prayer and the hope were both fulfilled in the 
experience of Jairus. The light of Divine truth, 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 491 

and of spiritual life, shone upon him and his when 
his daughter was redeemed from death by the 
almighty power of the Saviour. And, although 
not at the time permitted to proclaim the glory and 
goodness of his great Benefactor, we cannot doubt 
that he afterwards freely testified of Him who had 
in so marvellous a manner revealed Himself under 
his roof as " the resurrection and the life," and 
given proof of His readiness to receive the prayer of 
faith, to increase the faith of all who come to Him, 
and to manifest Himself to them as He doth not 
unto the world. 

The name Zaccheus is written Zaccai in the 
lists of Ezra and Nehemiah. It is from a root 
which means " to be pure or just." The last 
syllable probably is the abbreviated form of Jah 5 
so that the word signifies " Jehovah is pure/' or 
" purity of Jehovah," a name most inappropriate 
to the character of him who bore it, in the con- 
dition in which Jesus found him,- — when he was 
unjust, an extortioner, and a false accuser, but 
fully expressive of the change that took place in 
him when he had received and obeyed the Divine 
call, and had been declared by the Lord himself 
" a son of Abraham/' — when salvation had come 
to his house, brought by Him who came to seek 
and to save that which was lost. 

Martha is a Chaldee or Syriac word, the femi- 



492 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

nine of moro or more, "lord," " master/' which we 
read in the form maran in the well-known phrase 
., Maran-atha, " the Lord cometh." Some think 
that Kyria, translated "lady" in the 3d Epistle of 
St John, is a proper name, the Greek equivalent 
of this word. Carpzov supposes that this Kyria 
was the same person as the Martha of Bethany. 

The names of the other women who were num- 
bered among Christ's disciples, and ministered to 
Him of their substance, are Hebrew. Salome, 
that of the wife of Zebedee, mother of James and 
John, is shalom, " peace." Susanna is shushan, 
" a lily." Joanna is the same with Joannes, 
Johanan, or John, " Jehovah hath shewn favour." 
The earliest of their successors in the apostolic 
age is Tabitha, whom Peter restored to life. Her 
name is interpreted by the Greek Dorcas, " a doe," 
or "antelope;" and is the Syro-Chaldaic form of 
the Hebrew Zibiah, (Tsibiah,) the name of a princess 
of Judah, the mother of king Joash. 

Ananias, contracted into Annas, is the name of 
four persons mentioned in the New Testament. 
It is the Hananiah of the Old Testament, differ- 
ing from Johanan only by the position of the 
words of which it is compounded. One only of 
the three was worthy of the name, the disciple at 
Damascus, whom the Lord sent to restore Saul of 
Tarsus to sight and to baptize him. There is a 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 493 

remarkable resemblance between the character 
and fate of one Ananias of the New Testament 
and a Hananiah of the Old. Ananias, the hus- 
band of Sapphira, fell dead at the word of Peter, 
having been convicted of the sin of lying to the 
Holy Ghost ; and Hananiah, the false prophet, re- 
ceived the sentence of speedy death from the true 
prophet Jeremiah, for lying in the name of Jehovah. 
Each committed the grievous and perhaps unpar- 
donable sin of tempting the Spirit of the Lord. 
Sapphira is a Hebrew name, and means the jewel 
sapphire ; it was probably given in allusion to the 
colour of the eyes, this gem being of a deep blue. 

The high priest Caiaphas, son-in-law of Annas, 
or Ananias, who also had held the high-priesthood, 
is mentioned by Josephus as " Joseph, called Cai- 
phas." Hence it is supposed, with some reason, 
that Caiaphas or Caiphas was an acquired name. 
In corroboration of this, it is to be observed that 
Matthew introduces him with the expression, "who 
was called," which he frequently uses when record- 
ing a surname. The nearest known word to 
Caiphas in Syro-Chaldaic is perhaps caphipho, 
" crook-backed." And it is not improbable, or 
without historical analogies, that this name, origin- 
ating as a nickname in personal deformity, might 
supersede his real or birth-name. We are familiar 
with it as an epithet of one of the worst of our 



494 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

own kings. It is no valid objection to this inter- 
pretation of the name, that a crook-backed man 
-was specially interdicted by the law of Moses from 
performing the duties of the priesthood; for at 
that period the laws regarding the office of high 
priest were notoriously disregarded and infringed. 
It is just possible, however, that this blemish may 
have occasioned the association of Annas with his 
son-in-law in the office, as recorded by St Luke, 
for the discharge of some functions for which he 
was legally disqualified. 

The husband of Joanna, one of our Lord's 
female disciples, was Chuza, steward or bailiff of 
Herod Antipas. This name, if interpreted accord- 
ing to its form in the Syriac version of the Gospels, 
has the sense of " modest," and so may be com- 
pared with Pudens, the name of a Christian at 
Rome mentioned by St Paul in his last epistle. 
By some, however, it is referred to the Hebrew 
chozch, "a seer;" or, if derived from the same 
root as this word, it may be identical with Hazaiah, 
(Chaza-iah,) " Jehovah seeth," the name of a per- 
son in a genealogy of the Book of Nehemiah, 
whose son was also called Col-hozeh, " all-seeing," 
in the same sense, — God or Jehovah being under- 
stood, and the name commemorating some occa- 
sion on which the Divine attribute of omniscience 
was especially impressed upon the parent's mind. 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 495 

Another person connected with this same Herod 
was Manaen, his foster-brother, afterwards a dis- 
tinguished member of the Church at Antioch. 
Manaen is Menahem, the name of one of the last 
kings of Israel. The word Menahem is " con- 
soler." Its meaning as a proper name may be 
understood from the speech attributed to Lamech 
on the birth and naming of his son Noah, in 
which it occurs, — " This same shall comfort us" 
It is an expression of hope that the child to whom 
it is given shall prove a consolation to his parents, 
or family, after some heavy affliction. Xaham, 
Xahun the name of the prophet, and Nehemiah 
are words of similar import. 

Malchus, the name of the high priest's sen-ant 
who was apparently foremost in the attempt to 
seize our Lord in Gethsemane, and whose right 
ear Peter cut off by a sword-cut evidently in- 
tended for his head, is the word melech, "king," 
which has been already noticed as a Hebrew 
name, singly, and in combination with other words. 
Its adoption for or by an individual in this man's 
rank of life, and in this period, would probably 
have no reference to its signification, but be due 
to its previous occurrence, and to mere fancy. 

The name Gamaliel, considering the class and 
position of the person who bore it, would, we may 
presume, be fixed upon, although an ancient name, 



496 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

as a devout expression of gratitude on occasion of 
the birth of a son, and a recognition of such a 
- blessing as " a reward or recompense from God." 
The original name of this wise man's illustrious 
pupil, Saul, will be considered in association with 
his assumed Roman name. 

The Greek and Roman names in the New Tes- 
tament are far more numerous than the Hebrew. 
They are found belonging to persons of Jewish 
parentage, sometimes as additional names, but not 
unfrequently as their sole names. In the latter 
case, it is supposed by most that the original 
Hebrew or Syriac name had fallen into disuse ; 
but there is also some reason for the opinion that 
a Greek name was often the substitute, not in 
sense, but in sound merely, for the Hebrew name 
given at birth. Thus, in the Maccabean period, 
when Palestine had fallen under the influence of 
the Greek kingdom of Syria, Eliakim, (God estab- 
lished!,) the name of a Hellenizing pretender to 
the high-priesthood, was perverted into Alcimus, 
(a man of might ;) Jeshua, the ancient Joshua, and 
later Jesus, into Jason, a mythological Greek 
name. So Joseph became Hegesippus, (leader of 
horse,) the similarity of which to Joseph may be 
understood by comparison with the modern Italian 
form of the name, Giuseppe. Alpheus, the father 
of James the less, is, by comparison of John xix. 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 497 

25 with Luke xxiv. 10, ascertained to have been 
also called Clopas, or Cleopas. Alpheus is the 
Hebrew and Syriac Chalpai, which may mean "an 
exchange (or substitute) from Jehovah." Cleopas, 
the contraction of Cleopatros, is the approximate 
Greek name, in form and sound, with the very 
different meaning, "glory of or from a father.'"' 
But although some Greek names of Jews may be 
thus accounted for, it does not follow that all are 
similar transformations of their Hebrew names. 

Among the apostles two have Greek names, 
Philip and Andrew, and they are called by no 
other. Philip is a name well known in history, and 
common among all Greek-speaking people. It be- 
longs to a popular class of names, compounded of 
hippos, "horse/"' and means " lover of horses/'" An- 
drew (Andreas) is "manly." These two apostles 
were inhabitants, and probably natives, of the small 
town of Bethsaida, on the lake of Gennesareth, 
peasants of Galilee, and undoubtedly of Hebrew 
parentage and descent. It is not likely that they 
owed their Greek names to any Gentile influence 
or connection. But they may have travelled in 
some of the adjacent districts, as, for example, the 
iegion above Caesarea Philippi, where Greek 
would be the current language of the mixed popu- 
lation ; and may have found it advisable to adopt 
Greek names for the purpose of facilitating their 

2 I 



498 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

intercourse with those among whom they had to 
sojourn. It is a singular fact, confirming this sup- 
position, that when certain Greeks, probably pro- 
selytes from heathenism, who had come up to 
Jerusalem to worship at the feast of the Passover, 
desired to see Jesus, they applied to Philip of all 
the apostles ; and Philip immediately took counsel 
with Andrew ; and these two, after informing their 
Master, evidently introduced them to Him. It 
would appear as if Philip and Andrew alone among 
the twelve knew the Greek language, or had been 
conversant with foreigners. Another Philip, of 
whom more is recorded than of the apostle so 
named, was the second on the list of the seven 
appointed to superintend the secular affairs of the 
early Church in Jerusalem. He was clearly a 
Hellenistic Jew ; for, since this appointment arose 
out of the murmuring of the " Grecians against the 
Hebrews/' the Church chose all the administrators 
of the public fund from the complaining party. 
All their names are Greek, and one of the number 
was a Gentile by birth. The name of the first- 
mentioned, and most conspicuous, of the seven 
cannot fail to associate itself in our minds with the 
high dignity and glory to which he was advanced 
as the first martyr for the faith of Jesus. Stephen 
signifies u a crown;'' and a (Town is a divinely- 
m emblem of " the recompense of reward " 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 499 

reserved in heaven for those who have borne testi- 
mony to the truth by enduring the pains and terrors 
of martyrdom. " Be thou faithful unto death, and 
I will give thee a crown of life." And truly may he 
be called the very crown of martyrs who was the 
leader of their " noble army," who was encouraged 
by no human example of resistance unto blood in 
defence of the gospel, and whose death was an 
attestation of the foundation-truth of Christianity 
— the Deity of the Saviour. 

Nothing is known of the remaining five but their 
names; and these are thoroughly Greek in form 
and sense, and undoubtedly were given by parents, 
or assumed by themselves, without any considera- 
tion of their meaning. Prochorus is "one who 
leads in a chorus." Nicanor, " conqueror of men." 
Timon, " great honour." Parmeiias, probably an 
old name signifying " steadfast," " faithful," the 
patronymic of which is found in Parmenion, the 
name of the general of Philip and Alexander the 
Great. Nicolas, or Nicolaus, " conquering or per- 
suading the people." 

Nicodemus has nearly the same signification 
with the last name, and, one cannot but think, 
must have been of Athenian origin, given perhaps 
to commemorate some occasion of a triumph gained 
in the popular assembly of Athens by a parent who 
was one of the famous orators who "wielded at will 



500 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES: 

that fierce democracy." But it is remarkable 
that it should be the only name by which a person 
is known who was an ecclesiastical ruler of the 
Jews, and a " master in Israel." 

Not a few of the Greek names in the New Testa- 
ment are connected with the heathen mythology. 
The most conspicuous of this class is Apollos, a con- 
traction of Apollonius, a belonging to, or devoted 
to Apollo." The learned Jew of Alexandria who 
is known by this name can hardly have been other 
than a Hebrew by lineage. And he was apparently 
one of those who, like St Paul, had been early 
trained in the sacred literature of their nation, with 
the view to becoming scribes and rabbis, writers 
and interpreters of the Scriptures. Yet residence, 
perhaps long residence, in the Greek city of Alex- 
andria had rendered his parents so familiar with 
ordinary Greek names, and usage had so completely 
detached such names, among the Greeks them- 
selves, from their original significance, that no reli- 
gious scruple was felt in calling a Jewish child by 
a name which, when first given, must have been 
intended in some manner to be a dedication of the 
person who bore it to the special worship or service 
of the god Apollo. We cannot, however, but 
rd the adoption of this order of names as an 
indication of that conformity to Gentile manners 
which had, a century and a half before, brought 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 501 

gres ; upon the Jewish Church, and intro- 

zi discord into Jewish society, and which was 

the characteristic of an influential part}" in the time 
of our Lord and the apostles, comprising those 
called Herodians, and perhaps a large proportion 
of the Sadducees. 

Apolios is, in St Paul's Epistle to Titus, associ- 
ated with Zen as. who is called u a lawyer " — that is. 
probably, a Jewish scribe or rabbi, like Apolios 
himself. It is somewhat remarkable that this his 
companion should also have a peculiarly heathen- 
ish name, Zenodorus, "gift of Zeus (or Jupiter.)*' 
It is the name of an early Greek mathematician, a 
fragment of whose writings is the oldest extant 
book on geometry. 

The other names derived from those of heathen 
deities, or identical with them, which we hnd in the 
New Testament, belong almost certainly to Gentile 
Christians who had received them from heathen 
ants. And it was not in accordance with the 
spirit of Christianity, especially as exhibited in the 
teaching of the great apostle of the Gentiles, that 
such names should be changed at baptism. " An 
idol,"'" as he instructed his Gentile converts to un- 
derstand, was "nothing in the world ;" and he 
was not likely to attribute importance or reality to 
a nonentity, by encouraging any scruples as to the 
use of the idol's name. His rule would probably 



502 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

be similar to that which he laid down in reference 
to meats offered to idols, which, in his own judg- 
ment, were as allowable for Christian use as any- 
other food, but from which he exhorted believers 
to abstain if the fact of their having been dedicated 
to an idol should be distinctly pointed out to them. 
He would, in the same spirit, advise that names of 
idolatrous significance should be retained, as a mat- 
ter perfectly indifferent, and pledging to no idolatrous 
belief or practice, but that such names should not 
be chosen by Christian parents for their children. 

Phoebe, the name of the " servant " or " deacon- 
ess " of the church or congregation in Cenchrea, 
near Corinth, who is mentioned with so much 
affectionate commendation by St Paul, is a very 
common epithet of the goddess Artemis or Diana, 
sister of the god Apollo, who is also called Phoebus. 
The word signifies " bright " or " pure," and in the 
later times of the Greek mythology was understood 
to bear reference to the light of the sun or moon, 
with which luminaries Apollo and Diana were re- 
spectively identified. Demetrius was a very com- 
mon name among the Greeks, derived from Demeter, 
the goddess called Ceres by the Romans, who pre- 
sided over agriculture; and originally was Ge-meter, 
mother earth. The name belongs, in the New 
Testament, to a heathen, the turbulent silversmith 
of Ephesus, and, in its contracted form Demas, 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 503 

to one who was for a time a Christian minister, 
and fellow-worker with St Paul, but afterwards a 
deserter, if not an apostate, through the love of 
this present world. It is, however, rescued from 
the opprobrium of such evil associations by " the 
good report of all men, and of the truth itself," 
and of the aged apostle John, obtained by the 
Demetrius whom this apostle mentions in his 
epistle to Gaius. In the same epistle, one Dio- 
trephes, who was apparently in a high position 
in the Church, is threatened for his arrogant 
and mutinous rejection of apostolical authority, 
and his tyrannous conduct towards those of his 
Church who wished to submit to it. This man's 
name is a frequent epithet of the heroes of Homer, 
and means " Jove bred," or " Jove cherished." It 
affords no certain indication of his lineage. But 
we know that there were Grecian families which 
prided themselves on their supposed descent from 
Zeus, (Jove,) their supreme deity, and assumed there- 
upon the airs of the highest possible aristocracy. 
This man possessed too much of such a spirit; 
for he was evidently disposed to acknowledge no 
superior, "loving to have the pre-eminence," and 
setting at naught the spiritual power, which in 
the Christian Church took precedence of all other, 
and which doubtless, unless he repented, was exer- 
cised by St John for his humiliation. 



504 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

Dionysius, the Areopagite, St Paul's illustrious 
Athenian convert, derives his name from the god 
Dionysus or Bacchus. The name is familiar to 
the readers of ancient history as that of the two 
rulers of Syracuse whose character, in popular 
estimation, has in a great degree contributed to 
confer upon their title, " tyrant," meaning origin- 
ally " sovereign," its present odious significance. 
It was a name that could hardly fail to be pre- 
valent among the Athenians \ for there were three 
annual festivals of the god Bacchus held in Attica, 
and two of them in Athens, called the Dionysia, 
signalized by the celebrated dramatic contests for 
public prizes. The name Dionysius would very 
naturally suggest itself as appropriate for a child 
born at one of these seasons. 

A person called Hermes is saluted by St Paul, in 
writing to the Roman Christians, as one of the 
members of the Church. He bears the Greek 
name of the god whom the Romans worshipped as 
Mercury, and both Greeks and Romans as the god 
of eloquence and orators. Hence, at Lystra in Ly- 
caonia, the people, believing that Barnabas and 
Paul were gods in the likeness of men, concluded 
that Paul must be the god Hermes, because he 
was the chief speaker. Hernias is included in the 
same salutation, and evidently as belonging to the 
same Christian association as Hermes. Hernias is 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 505 

the contraction of some compound of Hermes, 
probably Hermodorus, " gift of Hermes/' a name 
which, in its origin at least, implied that prayers 
or vows had been made to Hermes for the birth of 
a child. Hermogenes, the name of one of the 
Asiatic Christians who abandoned Paul in his 
troubles, is another compound of the same word, 
meaning " descended from Hermes." 

Nereus was a member of a distinct fraternity of 
Christians at Rome, especially noticed by St Paul 
in his letter to the Roman Church. Nereus is 
the name of an ancient sea-god worshipped by 
the Greeks, and, in their mythology, parent of the 
sea-nymphs known as the Nereids. Epaphroditus 
and Epaphras are probably the same word ; the 
latter, like so many words ending in as, being a 
contraction of the former. Derived from Aph- 
rodite, the goddess called Venus by the Romans, 
the word Epaphroditus is used in the sense of 
" beautiful/' or " agreeable/' But it was employed 
by Sylla, the dictator, as the Greek equivalent of 
the surname Felix, or a the fortunate," which he 
had assumed, and probably obtained this meaning 
from the fact that the highest throw of the dice 
was by the Romans called Venus. The persons 
known to us by this name are distinguished by the 
high commendation bestowed upon them by the 
apostle Paul, and their eminent position in two 



506 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

important churches. Epaphroditus was the dele- 
gate of the Philippian Church to the apostle when 
a prisoner at Rome ; and Epaphras was a minister 
of the Church of Colosse, and was also at Rome 
with St Paul, and seems to have suffered imprison- 
ment for a time with him. Some think that the 
two names refer to the same person ; but their 
relation to two churches so widely different in 
locality and circumstances, is unfavourable to this 
supposition. 

Hymen eus, who, together with Philetus, was 
censured by St Paul, and excommunicated with 
Alexander for the heresy of denying the resurrec- 
tion of the body, has the name which, in the 
Greek of the time, was that of the god Hymen, 
who presided over marriage. Artemas, mentioned 
by St Paul in his Epistle to Titus evidently as a 
person employed by him in the work of the minis- 
try, is Artemidorus, "gift of Artemis or Diana." 
This was the name of the Greek sophist of Cnidos, 
who is reported to have placed in the hands of 
Julius Caesar, when on his way to the Senate- 
House on the fatal Ides of March, a document 
warning him of the designs of the conspirators. 
There was also an Ephesian so called, who, in the 
reign of Antoninus Pius, wrote a work, still extant, 
upon dreams. It was a name likely to be very popu- 
lar at Ephesus, the city of the great goddess Artemis. 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 507 

To these we may add Nymphas, or Nymphodorus, 

"gift of the nymph," the name of an eminent 
member of the Church of Colosse, and Olympas, 
or Olympiodorus, head of a Christian family or 
association in Rome. This name means " gift of 
the Olympian,'*' — that is, of Zeus, — and is therefore 
equivalent to Zenodorus, before explained. Some 
manuscripts of great antiquity have Orympia, or 
Olympias, which would be the name of a woman, 
and well known in history as that of the mother 
of Alexander the Great. 

Two only of the names of this class have remained 
in ordinary use as Christian names. Phcebe, and, 
perhaps by its introduction, Diana, the Latin name 
of the same goddess, may often be met with among 
ourselves; and Denis, the contraction of Dionysius, 
is very popular in France and Ireland. And occa- 
sionally, perhaps, Demetrius may appear as an Eng- 
lish, but is frequent in history as a Russian, name. 

Timotheus, the name given to a child by par- 
ents, one of whom was a Greek, the other a 
Jewess, was common among the Greeks \ and its 
meaning, " God honouring,"' would make it accept- 
able to a Jewish mother. We cannot doubt but 
that it expressed equally the prayer and the resolu- 
tion with regard to her son adopted by the pious 
matron to whose " unfeigned faith n St Paul has 
borne testimony. The mother of Timothy desired 



508 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

that her child should honour the God of his Israel- 
itish fathers in a heathen land \ and, that his char- 
acter might correspond to his name, took means 
to instruct him from his infancy in the oracles of 
the great Jehovah, whom alone she at least would 
acknowledge as God. Her prayers were answered, 
and her efforts were blest. They were both made 
conducive to the preparation of her son for a ser- 
vice of God far more important and honourable 
than any she could have imagined for him in his 
boyhood. He clearly occupies the highest posi- 
tion among the subordinates and delegates of St 
Paul \ and, if not the first in time, was certainly 
the first in rank among those to whom authority 
over churches, and over other ministers, was given 
by direct apostolic commission. 

Theophilus, to whom St Luke inscribed his 
Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles, was probably 
a Gentile. His name has by some been con- 
sidered nearly synonymous with Timothy, as mean- 
ing " God loving." But analogy is more in favour 
with the sense " God loved." 

Passing from Timothy to the other associates of 
St Paul who had Greek names, we find, beside 
Epaphras and Epaphroditus already noticed, Eras- 
tus, described as the chamberlain (perhaps treasurer) 
of the city of Corinth. Erastus is " one who is 
loved," or 'Movable," in its original acceptation, 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 509 

with the affection of a lever, as Philetus is one 
worthy of love with the affection of a friend. The 
former, the companion of Timothy, Paul's beloved 
son in the faith, in an important mission, was 
doubtless endeared to the apostle, and rendered ac- 
ceptable to the churches, by qualities answerable to 
his name; the latter, the accomplice of Hymeneus 
in his heretical teaching, could no longer be recog- 
nized or recommended by Paul in the character of 
a friend, but was classed by him among those 
whose "vain babblings" he exhorted Timothy to 
shun, and who, he predicted, would advance to 
further excess of ungodliness. 

Aristarchus of Macedonia, one of Paul's " com- 
panions in travel," and probably a commissioner 
of the Macedonian churches, accompanied the 
apostle in his voyage to Rome, and is called by 
him, writing from that city, his " fellow-labourer," 
and " fellow-prisoner." His name, " best in rul- 
ing," indicates pre-eminence in authority, and dis- 
tinguished excellence in its exercise. It is used as 
an epithet of Zeus or Jupiter, the supreme deity. 
Names compounded with aristos, "best," were 
very common among the Greeks. "We have 
another example in Aristobulus, members of whose 
household, residing in Rome, were saluted by St 
Paul in his letter to the Roman Christians. The 
word signifies " best in counsel,'"' and was an 



5io NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

epithet of Athene or Minerva, the goddess of wis- 
dom. Sopater, said in the Acts to be a Berean, 
and called Sosipater in the Epistle to the Romans, 
where he is mentioned by St Paul as one of his 
kinsmen, had received a name also belonging to a 
large class of Greek proper names, those com- 
pounded of the word sos, " safe/' This class, 
like the last-mentioned, originated in the attention 
paid by the Greeks to omens, which led them to 
fix upon auspicious names for their children, on 
the same principle as that which rendered them 
so careful to speak none but auspicious words at 
seasons of worship, or on the occasions of solemnly 
inaugurating any work or enterprise. Sopater 
means "safe (be the) father/' and was, we may 
conjecture, first given when a father was absent, 
or ill, or likely to incur danger. Sosthenes, again, 
is the name of a Hellenistic Jew, the ruler of the 
synagogue at Corinth, and possibly, like his prede- 
cessor Crispus, afterwards a convert of St Paul, 
and associated with him in the address of his 
Epistle to the Corinthian Church. His name, 
" safe in strength," is equivalent to " safe and 
sound," and was in the first instance, and perhaps 
generally, an augury of bodily health and strength. 
The celebrated name Socrates has much the same 
sense, although it may refer to moral or political 
power. 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES, 511 

Tychicus, a Greek of proconsular Asia, first 
appears in the apostolic company on occasion of 
St Paul's second visit to Philippi, on his way from 
Corinth to Jerusalem, and is afterwards repeatedly 
mentioned by the apostle as high in his confidence 
and employed on important missions. His, too, is 
of the class of well-omened names, actually mean- 
ing " lucky," or " fortunate," and equivalent to the 
Latin Felix or Fortunatus. Trophimus is paired 
with him, as of the same province ; and since he is 
afterwards described as an Ephesian, (Actsxxi. 22,) 
it is probable that Tychicus was also a citizen of 
the great metropolis of proconsular Asia. They 
are both mentioned in St Paul's last letter; Ty- 
chicus as having been sent to Ephesus, Trophimus 
as left at Miletum, near his native city, in ill-health. 
The word Trophimus has several meanings ; but, 
as a proper name, its most likely signification is 
11 a foster-child " — an adopted son. Eutychus, the 
name of the young man who fell down from the 
upper room at Troas while Paul was preaching, 
and was restored to life through the apostle, has 
the same sense as Tychicus, but is still more ex- 
pressive of the desire for, or acknowledgment of 
prosperity — meaning " one who has good fortune." 
The principal incident of his life was at the same 
time in singular contrast and accordance with his 
name. He whose fate would have been doubtless 



512 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

lamented as, in opposition to his name, a misfortune 
to himself and the Church at Troas— a mischance 
which had happened to them, became a distin- 
guished evidence of the truth of an over-ruling 

o 

Providence in the affairs of men, and an example 
of the special grace of Him " in whose favour is 
life." 

One name among those of the companions and 
fellow-labourers of St Paul is especially worthy of 
notice, as illustrative of the attention, even in those 
later times, paid to the meaning of names, and as 
justifying the supposition that sentiments of vari- 
ous kinds, but chiefly pious and edifying, would be 
suggested by them, and that they would become, 
in many instances, symbolical of conduct and char- 
acter. Onesimus, a bond-slave of Philemon, who was 
a member, and probably a minister of the Church 
at Colossce, had defrauded his master and run away 
from him. Converted by the preaching of St 
Paul at Rome, and apparently admitted by him 
into the Christian ministry, he was sent back by 
the apostle to Philemon with a recommendatory 
letter, in which evident allusion is made to the 
signification of his name, for the purpose of im- 
pressing upon the mind of Philemon the change 
which had been effected in him by the grace of 
God, and representing his present position an< 
capabilities. Onesimus means "profitable." "I be 






NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 513 

seech thee," says the Apostle, " on behalf of my 
son whom I have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus, 
the Onesimus who was once to thee unserviceable, 
but now, in the best sense, serviceable to thee and 
to me.'' He does not employ the actual word 
Onesimus in expressing the ideas u serviceable " 
and "unserviceable," but synonymous terms of a 
more emphatic character. Afterwards, he uses the 
verb of which Onesimus is a derivative in urging 
his request as for a personal favour and benefit \ — - 
" Yea, brother, let me have profit (onaimen) of 
thee in the Lord." Assuredly, it was not only in 
this letter that the name of Onesimus was conse- 
crated to a representation of the blessing which 
his conversion conferred upon the Apostle, upon 
Philemon, and upon the Church in Rome and 
Colossae ; but its employment for such a purpose 
in a writing of the inspired Paul would impart to it 
a sacramental character which otherwise it could 
not have possessed. It would become his title of 
honour and benediction, like the Cananites or 
Zelotes, of the second Simon among the apostles. 
Another person, mentioned with much affection and 
regard in the Second Epistle of St Paul to Timothy, 
bears a similar name and character. Onesiphorus 
means " bringer of benefit," and is the name of one 
who " ministered in many things " to the Apostle 
in Ephesus, and afterwards during his last im- 

2 K 



5H NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

prisonment in Rome. Although St Paul makes 
no allusion, as in the former case, to the name of 
his friend, he fully recognizes in him the character 
which it expresses ; and his prayer for him and his 
seems founded upon that character. For " the 
bringer of benefits " to the minister of Christ in his 
work and in his affliction, he prays that he may 
receive the greatest of all benefits from Christ : 
" The Lord grant unto him, that he may find 
mercy from the Lord on that day." And he asks 
that the same blessing may descend upon his 
family : " The Lord grant mercy to the household of 
Onesiphorus." The man' who confers benefits 
upon the servants and ministers of Christ as the 
representatives of their Master, shall in nowise 
lose his reward. He shall himself personally receive 
spiritual benefits, and he may hope to be the means 
of procuring them, through "the effectual fervent 
prayer of the righteous,'' whom he has succoured, 
for those who are most dear to him. 

Philemon is a word formed from the adjective 
philos, " dear," or " beloved," and means friendly. 
Archippus, who is saluted in the Epistle to Phile- 
mon as apparently one of his household, and ad- 
monished in that of the Colossians as having an 
important charge in their Church, is thought by 
some to have been Philemon's son, and the presid- 
ing minister of the Colossian Church in the absence 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 515 

of Epaphras. His name is expressive of a very 
different charge and command, meaning "leader 
of horse." It does not follow from his having such 
a name, that he was of a military family, or des- 
tined to the military profession, although either 
circumstance, if it existed, might determine the 
choice of name. 

Stephanas was the head of a household which St 
Paul, writing to the Corinthians, describes as "the 
first fruits of Achaia," that is, the first household that 
was converted to Christianity, a statement corro- 
borated by the fact that he baptized this house- 
hold with his own hands. Stephanas is obviously 
a contracted compound of Stephanus, (Stephen,) 
and may mean " crowned," or " crown-bearing." 
This name probably originated in a prize gained at 
some public games by a father at the time of a 
son's birth \ and was therefore a name not unlikely 
to prevail at Corinth, the city near which the great 
Isthmian games were celebrated, and to which the 
successful competitors might not unfrequently be- 
long. It is easy to imagine the allusions which, 
in the Christian society of Corinth, would be made 
to the name, significant of success and honour, 
borne by the head of the first family which in their 
city entered into the contest for the great prize of 
eternal life. The Apostle in his letter to them, 
availed himself of images taken from their games 



516 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

to urge them to vigour and alacrity in their spiritual 
course. And very consistently with that admoni- 
tion might the name Stephanas suggest the prayer 
by and for the family of him who bore it, that they 
who had first started in the race might so run as 
to obtain the incorruptible crown which was its 
prize. 

In another epistle, that to the Romans, St Paul 
salutes Epaenetus, who was then, of course, at 
Rome, as his "well-beloved," and also as "the 
first fruits of Achaia." He must therefore have 
been one of the household of Stephanas. And as 
the term is applied to him personally, which is 
elsewhere applied to the whole, he was almost cer- 
tainly the first convert in the family. His name 
signifies " praiseworthy," and is certainly in accord- 
ance with the emphatic though brief testimony 
which the Apostle bears to his character and spiri- 
tual history. 

Andronicus is mentioned in the same epistle as 
one of the Apostle's kinsmen, converted to Christi- 
anity before himself. He must have been a Jew ; 
but his name is, in terms and sentiment, pre-emi- 
nently Greek, "conqueror of men." It was in 
later times the name of several emperors of the 
( rreek or Eastern empire. Another Roman Chris- 
tian was Philologus. His name signifies generally 
"lover of learning," but more especially "lover of 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES, 517 

language/"' in almost the modern sense of " philolo- 
ger/ ; He is associated in the Apostolical salutation 
with Julia, his wife or sister ; most probably the 
former, since in the case of the next pair, a brother 
and sister, included in the same salutation, the re- 
lationship is expressed. Julia was a name belong- 
ing to one of the highest families in Rome ; so 
that we may presume that Philologus was a person 
of some consideration. Beyond this, and the fact 
that he was well known to the Apostle as conspicu- 
ous among the members of the Roman Church, 
and evidently a leader or elder of one of the con- 
gregations into which that Church was subdivided, 
nothing is ascertainable concerning his character 
or position. It would be well for the Christian 
Church if, in even' portion of it, more of those who 
possess his apparent rank in society, civil and 
ecclesiastical, Avere in reality what he was by name? 
u lovers of learning," and particularly of that kind 
of learning which investigates the meaning of words 
and language as employed in Holy Scripture. 

The singular name, Asyncritus, stands at the 
head of another list. It means " not to be com- 
pared/'" but rather in the sense of "unlike" than 
" incomparable." Originally, we may suppose, it de- 
noted the want of that resemblance to one or another 
of the family, which is always so early looked for 
in the features of a new-born infant, and for the 



518 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES, 

most part so readily discerned, at least in imagina- 
tion. The sense " unsociable " is also assigned to 
the word ; and from the use of its component verb 
in Alexandrian Greek, as discoverable from the 
Septuagint, (see in Gen. xl. and Dan. iii. iv.,) it 
may be taken to mean u inexplicable/' Each of 
these significations will present to the student of 
proper names a probable reason for its adoption as 
a characteristic name in infancy. Phlegbn, a name 
in the same list, we may safely understand as refer- 
ring to personal appearance. " Blazing/'' its mean- 
ing, would denote a deep or bright red complexion, as 
Pyrrhus, "fiery," denotes the like colour of the hair. 
Narcissus, mentioned in the same epistle as the 
master of a household some members of which 
were Christians, has been supposed to be the well- 
known Narcissus, freedman and favourite of the 
Emperor Claudius ; but he was certainly not living 
at the time when the epistle was written. There was, 
however, another of the name who was high in the 
esteem of Nero, and who must have been then at 
Rome. The name is that of a flower, a variety of 
which is the common daffodil, and which is con- 
nected with one of the most popular legends of the 
Greek mythology, preserved in the Metamorphoses 
of ( )vid. Apelks, designated by the Apostle as " the 
approved in Christ/' bears a name which is appar- 
ently of Macedonian or Doric Origin, being that of 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 519 

two Macedonians known in history, — one of them 
the celebrated painter in the time of Alexander. 
Its signification is obscure, but seems to be in the 
Spartan dialect synonymous with ecclesiastes, or 
speaker in a legislative assembly. It was the 
name of a Gnostic heretic, a disciple of Marcion, 
in the second century, often mentioned by Ter- 
tullian. Stachys, whom the Apostle calls his " be- 
loved," has the homely but suggestive name " ear 
of corn." We may compare with it Carpus, "fruit," 
or " produce/' that of the friend with whom St 
Paul left his cloak at Troas. In their earliest use 
such names most probably signified offspring — rustic 
names, roughly or playfully expressing satisfaction 
in the birth of a child. Blastus, " a sprout," or 
" shoot," the name of Herod's chamberlain and 
favourite, must have had a similar origin. 

The first Greek name of a female which occurs 
in the New Testament is Dorcas, already men 
tioned as the translation of Tabitha, "roe," or 
" gazelle." The use of the Greek equivalent for 
her Syriac name may be accounted for by her re- 
sidence at Joppa, a seaport much frequented, and 
no doubt partially inhabited, by foreigners speak- 
ing chiefly the Greek language. The domestic 
servant of Mary the mother of Mark, who was 
acting as portress when Peter came to Mary's 
house, after his miraculous release from prison, 



520 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

was named Rhoda or " rose." As Barnabas, 
Mar) r 's brother, was " of the country of Cyprus/' it 
is a very reasonable supposition that the family 
had been resident there, and brought thence this 
maiden, who, like so many of her nation born in 
foreign parts, had received a Greek name. Lydia, 
St Paul's first convert in Europe, was an Asiatic, 
and derives her name from the country on the 
borders of which her native city, Thyatira, was 
situated. It is not originally Greek, but probably 
Phoenician. The name was common, and is fa- 
miliar to the readers of Horace. Chloe, the name 
of a Corinthian matron, head of a Christian house- 
hold, and Damaris, (in the form Damalis,) the 
name of one of St Paul's few converts at Athens, 
are also found in the writings of this poet. Chloe 
is the Greek for the first green shoot of plants, 
and is emblematic, doubtless, of youthful grace 
and beauty. Damalis is a "heifer," but was in 
use to signify a young girl ; so Eglah, in Hebrew, 
the name of one of David's wives. 

Bernice, or Berenice, the name of the sister of 
king Agrippa, is a Macedonian corruption of Phe- 
renice, "victorious," or "carrying off victory." It 
occurs in previous history, as the name of the wife of 
Ptolemy, one of Alexander's generals, who became 
king of Egypt, and founder of an illustrious dy- 
nasty. Another compound with niki, "victory," is 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 521 

found in Eunice, the name of the mother of Timothy, 
a Jewess, but of the Grecian or foreign class, and 
married to a Greek. The word is expressive of a good 
or happy victory, and in its origin doubtless com- 
memorated some such event. It is noticeable that 
nike was a favourite tennination of female names 
in the Macedonian age. Thessalonice (victory 
over the Thessalians) was the daughter of Philip 
king of Macedon, and half-sister to Alexander; 
and the city of Thessalonica, built by her husband, 
Cassander, was named after her. Stratonice, a 
compound of nike with stratos y "army," was the 
name of the wife of Antigonus, one of Alexander's 
generals and successors, and of his granddaughter 
— married to Seleucus— the heroine of the well- 
known story of the transfer of the wife of the 
father to his son, upon the shrewd discovery of a 
physician that the son was dying for her love. 

Lois, the mother of Eunice, preserves in her 
name an old Greek word signifying " agreeable," 
or " desirable," which, except in one doubtful 
passage, (Theocritus xxvi. 32,) is found only in the 
comparative and superlative forms. This name 
may be taken as corresponding to the Hebrew 
Naamah and Naomi. 

In the epistle to the Philippians St Paul addresses 
two women, named Euodia and Syntyche, evi- 
dently deaconesses of the Church, beseeching them 



522 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

to " be of the same mind in the Lord," implying 
that they had been previously at variance. Their 
names are of the large good-omen class, bespeak- 
ing prosperity. Euodia is "a good journey," and 
was used in the colloquial Attic Greek as the 
French use the expression "bon voyage" (Aristoph. 
Ran. 1828.) And Syntyche is constantly occur- 
rent as a phrase meaning "fortunate." The former 
name may be traceable to the circumstance of a 
birth taking place at the time of the commence- 
ment of a journey, or its successful termination; 
or it may have been in its origin figurative, and 
relate to the journey of life, for success in which it 
would then be an implied prayer. The two names, 
coupled as they are in the apostolic admonition, 
might well suggest to the holy women who bore 
them, and to the Church, the importance of union 
in Christian sentiment and affection, in order that 
they might prosperously continue together their 
course of personal religion, mutual friendship, and 
official usefulness. 

Another pair of deaconesses is saluted by St 
Paul in writing to the Romans. These had names 
very closely resembling each other in sense and 
sound, Tryphena and Tryphosa. It is not an 
unwarrantable conjecture that they were sisters 
and twins, and that their resemblance in appear- 
ance and constitution su^ r ested names which, with 



NE W 



y*5 



the slightest possible variation of form, had the 
same meaning. They are the feminines of the 
word Try p /ion. regarded in the termination ena as 
a noun, and in osa as a participle, and meaning 
•*' luxurious." or ■•voluptuous.''' It was a surname 
of a military adventurer, originally named Dio- 
dotus. who usurped for three years the throne of 
Syria, in the century before our era, a period in 
which surnames denoting actual character were 
freely bestowed on political personages. The word 
is, however, susceptible of a less dishonourable 
signification ; and, as a chosen name in such a 
case as we have imagined for Tryphena and Try- 
phosa, would have the sense of '''delicate'' or 
"dainty one. r '' There is a strong contrast between 
even this meaning of their names and the testi- 
mony borne to them by the Apostle, that they were 
u labouring in the Lord/' engaged in toilsome work 
in the cause of Christ at Rome. They were per- 
haps among the earliest examples and types of the 
many " tender and delicate women," who, from 
that time to this, have, regardless of the hindrances 
and difficulties arising from physical weakness, de- 
voted themselves to incessant and arduous labours 
in the visitation of the poor and sick, and the in- 
struction of the ignorant and the young, both in 
the visible Church and among the heathen. 

Persis, who is mentioned together with these 



524 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

as similarly employed, has, like Lydia, a name 
derived from a country. But it does not follow 
that she was really a Persian woman. 

The Latin names in the New Testament are nume- 
rous. Most of them belong to persons of Jewish 
extraction, and would seem, from the indications 
afforded by some prominent examples, to have been 
assumed names, not those originally given. Thus 
we have Paul, or Paullus, the Roman name of 
Saul ; Mark, or Marcus, of John ; Niger of Simeon 
of Antioch ; Justus of Joseph Barsabas, and also 
of a Jew called Jesus. 

Of all the names of this class, that of the great 
Apostle of the Gentiles is necessarily the most 
worthy of notice. He is first called by the name 
Paulus, in the record of his visit to the island of 
Cyprus, the scene of his first missionary labours 
among the heathen ; and doubtless first assumed 
it there. No reason is assigned for the choice of 
the name \ but it is by most referred to the fact, 
that it was the surname of his distinguished con- 
vert, the Proconsul of the island, Sergius Paulus. 
It is probable that the desirableness of his adopting 
a Roman or Greek name became apparent during 
his stay in the island, and that this particular name 
was suggested by the similarity in sound of his 
original name, Saul, to that of the Proconsul. He 
was of the tribe of Benjamin, to which Saul, the 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 525 

first Israelitish king, belonged, and in which, there- 
fore, it is natural to expect this name would be 
preserved. It is not found, however, in the Benja- 
mite, or any other pedigrees, from the time of 
Saul, the son of Kish, or that of Saul of Tarsus. 
It had occurred before as the names of one of the 
early kings of Edcm, (Gen. xxxvi. 37,) and of a 
son of the patriarch Simeon, by a Canaanitish 
woman, who became head of a family among the 
Simeonites. The word means " asked for," or 
"borrowed," and hence "lent ;" and is. applied by 
Hannah in this last sense to her son Samuel, when, 
in fulfilment of her vow, she brought him to the 
tabernacle to devote him to God ; " as long as he 
liveth he shall be lent (shdul) unto Jehovah," (p. 
299.) We may be hereby reminded, that the 
Apostle, whose name might of itself express the 
same sentiment, has told us that he was " from his 
mother's womb separated " by God for His service, 
and called "by his grace," (Gal. i. 15,) and that 
he states it as part of his designation of himself 
that he was one "separated unto the gospel of God," 
(Rom. i. 1.) But the Roman name Paulus has 
no such signification as the Hebrew Saul. It 
means "little;" and the personal peculiarity of 
smallness of stature, which, when belonging to per- 
sons of eminence, has been subject of frequent 
remark in the heroic and historic age, no doubt 



526 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

originated this name, as the surname of a Roman 
family, in more than one of the principal gente's, or 
-clans. Sergius Paulus belonged to the Sergian 
gens, which is by Virgil traced to the high ancestry 
of the Trojan chief Sergestus, the captain of one of 
the ships of ^Eneas. The Sergian tribe is stated 
by Cicero (in Vatinium), to have been composed 
of Sabines, Marsians, and Pelignians, ancient 
nations of Italy. Catiline, the notorious ring- 
leader of the conspiracy detected and defeated by 
Cicero during his consulship, was of this great gens. 
It is quite conceivable that the Apostle, being a 
Roman citizen by birth, may have been adopted 
into the Sergian gens and into the Pauline family 
by the act of the Proconsul. Paulus would then 
be what was called the notnen adoptivum. In the 
opinion of St Augustine, the Apostle took this 
name in the spirit of humility, on account of its 
actual signification, "small," as indicative of the 
sentiment afterwards expressed by him when he called 
himself "less than the least of all saints," and "least 
all the apostles." Such a reason for the choice, if 
avowed, would hardly however be consistent with 
due respect for his noble convert Sergius Paulus. 
Dr Howson, in the " Life and Travels of St Paul/ 7 
has drawn attention to the encomium bestowed by 
the great poet, Horace, upon the most celebrated 
Roman known by this name, as equally applicable 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 527 

to the greatest of Christian heroes. Horace cha- 
racterizes ^Emilius Paulus, the consul who died for 
his country fighting against Hannibal in the battle 
of Cannae, as animcz magna prodigum, " lavish of 
his noble life," an expression vividly descriptive of 
the spirit and career and fate of him who said, " I 
count not my life dear unto myself, so that I might 
finish my course with joy, and the ministry which 
I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the 
gospel of the grace of God." 

The first convert to the Christian faith from 
among the uncircumcised proselytes to Judaism, 
was also a person of patrician rank. He is known 
only by the name Cornelius, which connects him 
with perhaps the most illustrious Roman house, 
the gens Cornelia, to which so many. of the greatest 
and best men of Rome had belonged. It was 
one of the most ancient clans, since we find consuls 
of this name very soon after the establishment of 
the Republic. That Cornelius the centurion was 
of pure Roman blood, and not a Greek, or Asiatic, 
who had assumed the name on adoption to citizen- 
ship and clanship, appears from the fact that he 
was a commander in the Italian band or cohort — 
a body of native Roman soldiers, not mercenaries 
from tributary or allied nations. Thus, although it 
was true that, in the beginning of the gospel, " not 
many mighty, not many noble were called," some 



528 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

of this class were, and that too, very early ; and 
peculiar care and prominence are given to the 
narratives of their conversion. And the conversion 
of each of these distinguished Romans marks the 
opening of an epoch in the annals of the kingdom 
of God ; that of Cornelius the admission of Gen- 
tiles already converted from heathenism, and that 
of Sergius Paulus the admission of Gentiles hitherto 
idolatrous, to the full privileges of Christian dis- 
cipleship. 

Among the native Romans of distinction who 
are personally presented to us in the sacred nar- 
rative, the most conspicuous is Pontius Pilatus, 
the procurator of Judaea. His nomen gentile, Pon- 
tius, refers him to a house or clan of probably great 
antiquity ; for we find the name in the early Roman 
history belonging to a general of the Samnites, one 
of the old Italian nations, most formidable to the 
rising commonwealth of Rome. Pilatus, the name 
of his family, must have been originally a surname 
of honour, probably commemorating some warlike 
exploit performed with the piliim, or javelin, or 
rewarded with the rank of " centurio primi pili," 
or a captain in the reserve division, called Triarii 
in the Roman army. Thus also the word Triarius 
is found as a family name in the gens Valeria, the 
to which Valerius Gratus, the predecessor 
( I Pilate, belonged It had doubtless a similar 



MEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 529 

origin. Pilate held the procuratorship of Judaea 
for ten years. He was deprived of the office by 
his superior, Vitellius, the proconsul of Syria, and 
sent to Rome, in the last year of the emperor 
Tiberius, to answer the charges of violence and 
injustice brought against him by the Jewish people. 
It is remarkable that, in this very year, a member 
of Pontian gens, Caius Pontius, was one of the 
Roman consuls. This was the year of the death 
of Tiberias. 

Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, before whom 
Paul was accused at Corinth by the Jewish resi- 
dents, gives us an example of change of name 
through adoption. His original name was Marcus 
Annaeus Novatus ; but having been adopted into 
the family of Junius Gallio, the rhetorician, he was 
thenceforward called Junius Annaeus Gallio. He 
was the brother of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the 
philosopher, the tutor of Nero, and one of the 
most illustrious victims of his cruelty. Gallio 
himself, and another brother named Mela, with 
Lucan the poet, son of Mela, were put to death 
by the same odious tyrant. 

The governor or procurator, Felix, was the 
brother of Pallas, a manumitted slave, freedman 
and favourite of the imbecile emperor Claudius. 
Each of the brothers is called Antonius, a name 
which seems to refer their manumission to Antonia, 

2 L 



5 SO NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

the mother of Claudius, and daughter of the cele- 
brated Mark Antony, and his wife Octavia, sister of 
the emperor Augustus. Felix is also called Clau- 
dius Felix by Josephus and others, having proba- 
bly assumed by permission the nomen gentile of his 
living patron instead of that of the lady to whom 
he owed his freedom. Pallas and Felix appear to 
have been Peloponnesian Greeks by birth and ex- 
traction. Felix is a name which frequently occurs ; 
and, as before stated, was chosen for himself by 
the dictator Sylla, on account of its signification, 
" fortunate." It was, we must suppose, adopted by 
this Greek freedman at the time of his manumission. 
And the choice was certainly justified by his extra- 
ordinary prosperity. From a slave he became a 
lieutenant-governor of a Roman province ; and his 
matrimonial alliances gave occasion to the his- 
torian Suetonius to entitle him, " the husband of 
three princesses.'' One of these was Drusilla, grand- 
daughter of Mark Antony and Cleopatra ; another, 
the Drusilla mentioned in the Acts, was a daughter 
of Herod Agrippa, and sister of Bernice. Drusilla 
is a diminutive formed from Drusus, a noble 
family name among the Romans. 

Porcius Festus was the successor of Felix. By 
his nomen genii lc, he would seem to be connected 
with a patrician house, well known as that to 
which the two CatOS belonged, but whether by 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 531 

birth, or in a lower relation, like that of his prede- 
cessor, is uncertain. The name is no doubt de- 
rived from "porcus," pig, and indicates either a 
nickname, or the original occupation, or principal 
possessions, of the founder of the clan. The 
cognomen, Festus, as an adjective, means "festal," 
" belonging to holidays/' and originated probably 
in a birth at such a season. Two persons of this 
name are mentioned by the historian Tacitus, who 
were contemporaries with Porcius Festus ; one of 
them, Martius Festus, was a conspirator against 
Nero ; the other, Valerius Festus, commanded a 
legion in Africa, and caused the assassination of 
the proconsul Piso, in the beginning of the reign 
of Vespasian. Agrippa is an old Roman family 
name, the first conspicuous example of which is 
found in Menenius Agrippa, to whom is attributed 
by Livy the fable of the belly and the members, 
and who lived more than four centuries before our 
era. It is thought by some to be a contraction of 
cegre partus, denoting extreme peril in the natal 
hour, and thus resembling many Hebrew names 
taken from similar circumstances of birth, (pp. 
304-308.) 

The chief captain, Claudius Lysias, who in- 
formed St Paul that he had purchased the Roman 
citizenship with a great sum, has a Roman and a 
Greek name. Lysias, his Greek, and probably 



532 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

sole original name, is derived from luo, to " re- 
lease/' " deliver/' and may have been in the first 
instance commemorative of some private or family 
event, or may be a grateful reference to the sup- 
posed action of some deity. Claudius was the 
name assumed when this Greek, or Asiatic, obtained 
his citizenship, and was possibly enrolled as a 
member of the Claudian gens. 

Julius, in whose custody St Paul was conveyed 
from Caesarea to Rome, is called " a centurion of 
the Augustan band," or "cohort," and therefore, 
like Cornelius of the Italian cohort, was an officer 
distinguished by his military position, as well as 
by birth in a noble house — the great Julian gens. 
Wieseler thinks he can be identified with Julius 
Priscus, who was, while still a centurion, placed in 
a joint command of the Praetorian guards, or Im- 
perial household troops, by the Emperor Vitellius, 
and who killed himself after the death of Vitellius, 
when Rome was occupied by the partisans of his 
successor Vespasian. 

Among the companions or friends of St Paul 
the first mentioned with Latin names are Simeon, 
called Niger \ Lucius of Cyrene ; and John, sur- 
named Mark. Simeon and John, being certainly 
Jews, received these names at their circumcision ; 
their Roman surnames were due to the associations 
or employments of maturer age. Niger, u black," 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 533 

is found as a Roman family name ; but may have 
been acquired by Simeon, as by the first who was 
called by it, from the darkness of his complexion. 
Marcus and Lucius are pr<z?iomina of great anti- 
quity, and among the most common of such names. 
Their meaning is not ascertainable with certainty. 
But there is an old word, Marcus, which signifies a 
" hammer ;" and, as in mediaeval history, a warrior 
was called Martel, or " hammer," on account of 
his effective prowess in dashing to pieces the power 
of his enemies;* so in old Roman, or perhaps 
ante-Roman times, such a word may have been 
employed in a similar sense, and may have thus 
become a favourite name for the children of a 
warlike race. If we may consider this the original 
meaning of the name, we may venture to connect 
with it the remark, that he who bore it among the 
first Christian warriors showed at first little dispo- 
sition to "endure hardship as a good soldier of 
Jesus Christ," but was afterwards employed to pro- 
duce a portion of those Divine oracles which de- 
scribe themselves as " a hammer that breaketh the 
rock in pieces." Lucius is understood to be de- 
rived from Lux, " light," and to have been at first 
the name of children born at the dawn of day. 
The Lucius who was with St Paul when he wrote 
from Corinth to the Roman Christians is placed 
* See Jer. iv. 23 ; Nah. ii. 1. 



534 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES, 

by him among his kinsmen, which must mean that 
he was at least a Jew, and therefore, like Mark 
and Niger, probably had also a Hebrew name. 

Luke, or Lucas, is a Latin word, the contraction 
of Lucanus, originally the name of an Italian tribe, 
but well known as a Roman family name, through 
the poet Lucan, lately mentioned as one of the 
Annaean gens, and a victim of the tyranny of 
Nero. Silas is the contraction of Silvanus, the 
derivation of which is obviously from silva, " a 
wood," and implies either the birthplace, or the 
habitation and occupation of him or of those who 
first bore it ; or it may be the name of the tutelar 
deity of woods, and so is to be added to the 
number of names in the New Testament con- 
nected with heathen mythology. It is found as a 
proper name in Roman history, and as Silas was, 
like Paul, a Roman citizen, and certainly also a 
Jew, it is probable that it denotes the Roman 
family into which his own, or "he himself indi- 
vidually, had been adopted. 

Aquila and Priscilla, the honoured and much- 
loved friends of St Paul — the most distinguished 
among his fellow-helpers of the Christian laity — 
were, as well as the Apostle, Jews of Asia-Minor, 
Aquila being of Pontus by birth. When he first 
became acquainted with them at Corinth they 
had just come from Rome, expelled as Jews by 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 535 

the decree of Claudius, after having apparently 
been some time resident in that city. These 
names are both Roman. Aquila, " eagle," is the 
family name of the commander of a legion, men- 
tioned by Tacitus, and contemporary with the 
Aquila of the Acts. Priscilla is the diminutive of 
Prisca, feminine of Priscus, " primitive/' and hence 
"worthy," or "venerable," as belonging to the 
good old time, which is also found as a family 
name in the earliest Roman annals. The name 
is written in the form Prisca in the Second Epistle 
to Timothy. 

Crispus and Gaius were two of St Paul's earliest 
converts at Corinth, and were baptized by himself 
personally. The former was undoubtedly a He- 
brew of the Hebrews, since he held the office of 
the chief of the synagogue. He bears the name, 
however, of a Roman family, rendered conspicuous 
by one of its members, C. Sallustius Crispus, the 
historian. The word Crispus means "curly;" and, 
like Cincinnatus, the surname of L. Quinctius, the 
renowned dictator, must have had its origin in the 
natural or artificial arrangement of the hair of 
some important personages among the forefathers 
of those families. Gaius is the Latin Caius, per- 
haps the most common of Roman prcznomina. 
Several names of this class occur in the extensive 
circle of St Paul's acquaintances, some of which 



536 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

were evidently adopted as surnames by Jews or 
Greeks, for whose original names they became 
permanently substituted. We have already noticed 
Marcus, surname of the Hebrew John. Titus is 
the Roman name of an eminent Greek convert 
and fellow-labourer of the Apostle. Secundus, 
Tertius, Quartus, prcznomina of frequent occur- 
rence, and intimating the order of birth, are found 
as the only names of the persons so denominated. 
Publius is also given as the sole name of a person, 
who, from his position in the island of Melita, 
was probably a native Roman. These may have 
been really prcenomina, the persons called by them 
having also, as Romans, gentile and family names, 
but, from various circumstances, known and usually 
spoken of in the locality or society to which they 
belonged by their prcenomina or individual names 
alone. This would naturally occur in the usage of 
familiar friends, and may account for the single 
names, Titus, Secundus, Tertius,- Quartus. With 
the case of Publius, a person holding apparently a 
government office, we may compare the practice 
of contemporaries and historians in regard to the 
Emperors Tiberius and Titus, who are, for the most 
part, only mentioned by those names, which were 
their prcenomina. Caius Ca3sar Caligula, who, 
although now always known by his agnomen, or 
rather nickname, Caligula, (boots,) is almost uni- 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES, 537 

formly called Caius in the writings of Josephus, 
who lived in his time. 

Clemens is commended by St Paul to a prin- 
cipal personage in the Philippian Church, as one 
of those fellow-labourers of his "whose names 
were in the Book of Life." He must have been at 
this time at Philippi. By most he is identified 
with Clemens, called Clemens Romanus, Bishop of 
Rome, and author of an Epistle from the Church of 
Rome to the Church of Corinth, which passes by 
his name. Clemens has the same meaning as the 
English " Clement." It was common in the Apos- 
tolical age as a Roman name. We find it borne 
by a slave of Postumus Agrippa, who personated 
his master after his death, and nearly raised a civil 
war in the early part of the reign of Tiberius ; also 
by two persons of rank, related to the Vespasian 
family, who were commanders of the praetorian 
guards in the reigns of Caligula and Vespasian 
respectively. 

Rufus, especially saluted in the Epistle to the 
Romans, together with his mother, is probably one 
of the sons of Simon the Cyrenian, who bore the 
cross after Jesus. They must have been eminent 
disciples in the time when the evangelist Mark 
wrote, or he would not have distinguished Simon 
from others of his name as the " father of Alex- 
ander and Rufus." Rufus is a family name, fre- 



538 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

quently met with in Roman annals, and is clearly 
to be ascribed to the red hair of the founders or 
remote ancestors of the families so called. The 
son of Simon was undoubtedly a Hellenistic Jew; 
and this Roman name, a surname by adoption, 
may, as was supposed in the case of Niger, the 
second son of Simon of Antioch, have been as- 
sumed or contracted from the personal peculiarity 
which it indicates. Urbanus, (Urban,) saluted in 
the same letter as the Apostle's " helper in Christ/' 
is in English " urbane/' " courteous/' and perhaps 
may be taken as corresponding to our Townly, 
(town-like.) Pudens, mentioned in St Paul's last 
letter as one of the faithful in Rome, derives his 
name from " bashfulness," or " modesty." Cre- 
scens, who is stated in the same letter to have 
" departed," probably as an apostolic emissary, 
" to Galatia," has a name which means "growing," 
" increasing," and may originally have denoted 
rapid growth of body, observed in early infancy ; 
or it may have arisen from its very common figura- 
tive use in the sense of " prosperous," and so be 
referred to the same class as Felix, Faustus, For- 
tunatus. Tacitus mentions by this name, a freed- 
man of Nero, who took upon himself to act as a 
lending partisan of Otho at Carthage, when Otho 
was attempting to secure the imperial dignity. 
This person was probably resident in Rome at the 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 539 

same time with the Crescens mentioned by St 
Paul. 

Two female names are recorded among those of 
the Roman Christians of the apostolic age — one 
included in the salutations addressed by St Paul to 
the Church at Rome ; the other in the salutations 
of that Church to Timothy. They are respectively 
Julia and Claudia, the former already mentioned 
as the wife or sister of Philologus. These are 
names implying connection with gentes of the 
highest rank — the Julian and Claudian — to both of 
which the princes of the reigning dynasty were 
allied. We cannot be sure that Julia and Claudia 
were by birth members of these " great old houses ;" 
but it is far from improbable that they were, since 
it was quite as likely at Rome as at Thessalonica 
and Berea, that " of the chief women not a few," 
and " honourable women n of Gentile origin, should 
hear and believe the gospel. And the sendees of 
such as ministering women, " succourers of many," 
and of elders and apostles also, would be as accept- 
able in the capital of the empire as were those of 
Phoebe, evidently a person of wealth and distinc- 
tion, and deaconess of the congregation at Cen- 
chrea, in connection with the metropolitan Church 
of Achaia. Some corroboration of the probability 
that these two women really were members of the 
imperial families is found in a remarkable saluta- 



54-0 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

tion sent from the Christians at Rome to those of 
Philippi through St Paul during his first imprison- 
ment — " All the saints salute you ; but chiefly they 
that are of Caesar's household." 

In concluding an examination of the proper names 
of persons mentioned in Holy Scripture, which has 
frequently led us into a discussion of their signifi- 
cance as indicative of the characters or fortunes 
of their possessors, or as expressive of important 
spiritual truths, it is necessary to recall the atten- 
tion of the reader to the principles of exposition 
established in the introduction of the subject. 
There have been observed not a few instances in 
which a Divine direction has been declared, or is 
patent, or plainly implied, in the choice of names, 
so as to give them a prophetic or doctrinal char- 
acter. These have been treated with the con- 
sideration which they demand as depositories of 
a Divine revelation, memorials of special grace 
already bestowed, or seals and pledges of blessings 
yet to come. But other names, however signifi- 
cant, yet lacking such an authentication, have not 
been regarded as a portion of the inspired testi- 
mony of the Word of God on the subject to which 
they refer. Knowing, however, by various examples 
which have been adduced, what pious use was 
freely made of such names among the Israelitish 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 541 

people in every age, and how certainly, in almost 
every case, the original imposition of a name was 
due to the connection, in some mind, of the senti- 
ment which it expresses with the circumstances of 
the individual to whom it was given, we have ven- 
tured, by the aid of the historical and doctrinal 
records of Scripture, to expand and illustrate the 
ideas which would be suggested to the thoughtful 
and religious by some names considered simply in 
themselves, and by others in association with what 
is known of their possessors. Much information 
and instruction, far more than has been offered in 
the foregoing chapters, may, by investigation of 
Scripture names on these principles, be obtained 
on the important subject of the relation of the 
prevalent belief and religious sentiment of the 
Hebrew people, in various periods of their history, 
to the actual system of theological doctrine and 
ritual observance exhibited in their literature. The 
professions of faith, the doxologies, the prayers and 
praises, the aspirations and acknowledgments, the 
expressions of hope and fear, of joy and sorrow, 
of trust and doubt, involved in numerous names, 
will, we believe, be found to be entirely consistent 
with all that is written in the Law, and Prophets, 
and Psalms, in reference to national and personal 
religion ; and, in many cases, will supply corrobor- 
ation of the facts recorded in the historical books. 



542 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

Nor is it improbable that, by a careful and discrim- 
inating study of these names, much additional in- 
sight may be gained into the characteristics of 
successive generations, and into the phases of their 
religious development. 

The consideration of the subject of personal 
nomenclature, as it is presented to us in the 
usages of the Hebrew race, and in the comments 
and explanations of the Hebrew and Christian 
Scriptures, cannot fail to suggest continual reflection 
on individual personality, identity, and character. 
It is by means of the ordinary, as well as the ori- 
ginal and primary, notion of a "proper name/' 
that the great truth of the personality of the single 
Divine Being is, from the earliest to the latest of 
these writings, constantly impressed upon the mind. 
His actual name is also not only the conventional 
symbol, but the expressive formula of His attributes, 
the epitomized revelation of His nature. All that 
He is in Himself abstractly, all that He is to His 
people, in their experience and hopes, is represented 
in the phrases, "name of God," "name of Jehovah," 
"name of the Lord Jesus Christ." Our objective 
religion, as taught by the gospel, as witnessed by 
the Law and Prophets, is concentrated in a Name 
— the name of Him unto whom we are baptized, 
after whom we arc railed — the name under which 
we recognize, and by which, as the proper name of 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 543 

a person, we realize, individually, the existence and 
action in regard to ourselves of the personal God, as 
a personal Saviour, a personal Master, and Teacher, 
and Friend. Conversely, the special favour with 
which the Father and Lord of all regards those whom 
He has chosen and called into a nearer relation 
to Himself than the rest of mankind, is expressed 
by His avowed acknowledgment of them individu- 
ally by name — each by that personal designation 
which distinguishes him from his fellow-men, but 
also, as it would seem, by a name sacramentally 
given, expressive of his peculiar interest in God. 
Thus, Moses, appealing to a declaration of such an 
acknowledgment of himself not previously stated 
in terms, founded upon it his request for a fuller 
manifestation of Jehovah. u See,' ; said he, " thou 
sayest unto me, Bring up this people : and thou 
hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. 
Yet thou hast said, ' 1 'know thee by name, and thou 
hast also found grace in my sight.' Now therefore, 
I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, 
show me now thy way." And the reply of Jehovah 
confirmed and re-asserted the high privilege on 
which His servant relied. He said unto Moses, 
u I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken : 
for thou hast found grace in my sight, and / know 
thee by name? (Exod. xxxiii. 12, 13, 17.) This is 
rendered by the Septuagint. " I know thee beyond 



544 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

[better than] all men ;" and paraphrased by Dathe, 
" I favour thee above all men ; ;; and another says, 
"This is more than knowing a man by face; it ex- 
presses the utmost familiarity and confidence." 
The same honour and blessing is extended to the 
whole Church when God says to Israel by Isaiah, 
u Fear not : for I have redeemed thee, / have called 
Hue by thy name; thou art mine," (chap, xliii. i.) And 
again, when the gospel Church is undoubtedly ad- 
dressed, " Thou shalt be called by a new name, 
which the mouth of the Lord shall name" (chap. lxii. 2.) 
And the grace bestowed upon the Church overflows 
to those who favour and succour it, as exemplified 
in the case of its greatest heathen benefactor ; for 
the election of Cyrus to the high dignity of Restorer 
of Israel is signified in these remarkable terms, "For 
Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, 
/ have even called thee by thy name : I have surnamed 
thee, though thou hast not known me," (chap. xlv. 4.) 
When Christ, in the character of the Good Shep- 
herd, would assure us of His individual interest in 
each member of His flock, He says of Himself, 
" He calleth his own sheep by name! 1 He knows 
each of us as we are known among men, in all the 
circumstances of our natural and earthly condition ; 
and He has also a name for each which Himself 
has given, corresponding to the circumstances of 
our spiritual life — our new birth, and baptism by 



XEW TESTAMEXT XAJIES. 545 

His Holy Spirit Thus. :: is His promise to "him 

that overcometh " by faith in Him. "I will give 
unto him a white stone, and in the stone a new 
nam-: written which no man knoweth, saving he 
- - Rev, ii. 17. ) By the : -: 

r noted adoption into the family :■: heaven, act 
i ; d to the privileges and prerc gatives of a child 
of God : and, by the se:r^: and sole knowledge of 
oame, as that by which the possessor is ad- 
sed by Chris:, the inward consciousness of 
personal recognition and notice by Him. and the 
experience of real spiritual communion with Him. 
And this is connected with the promise of the 
more intimate knowledge ;f God which shall t 
the chief blessedness of heaven. For Chris: has 
again t him that overcometh. " I will make 
him a pillar in the temple of my God. and he shall 
: more out] and I will write upon him the 
:v God . . . and my new name" It is thus 
rented that the fuller revelation of the nature 
and character of God. as manifested in Jesus Christ, 
e heavenly s:u:e. shall bring 
the glorified believer into a higher and closer re- 
>n to God in Christ, making him more abund- 
antly •• partaker of :he Divine nature, 73 changing 
t same image from glory unto glory." 
The possession of a proper name, significant of the 
special inheritance of holiness, and happiness, 

2 M 



546 NEW TESTAMENT NAMES. 

dignity, enjoyed by each individual inhabitant of 
heaven, is an idea which two of our poets, who 
have sung in the noblest strains of heavenly things, 
seem to have caught from these passages of Old 
and New Testament Scripture. Milton, in the 
narrative of the archangel Raphael to Adam, thus 
introduces the first mention of the great apostate, — 

" Satan ; so call him now, his former name 
Is heard no more in heaven ;" 

implying that, with the loss of his " first estate," he 
who was even now not "less than archangel ruined,' 7 
had lost the glorious name, expressive of majesty 
and excellence, which he had received at his crea- 
tion. 

11 She, for I know not yet her name in heaven," 

is the touching allusion to his deceased wife with 
which Young opens " The Infidel Reclaimed." To 
mention her by her earthly name he felt was to 
impair his own and others' apprehension of her 
present state of felicity and glory. Better to think 
of her, and speak of her, without a name, than by 
any other than that by which she was now known 
to saints, and angels, and God. The expressions 
in Scripture which have given rise to such thoughts, 
and the whole system of Scripture with regard to 
the most important and significant of its proper 
names, may have their origin in substantial realities, 



NEW TESTAMENT NAMES, 547 

existing in the spiritual and heavenly world. Om- 
niscience alone could construct a language capable 
of exhibiting accurately all the conceptions of even 
the human mind in its present, much more in its 
glorified condition. And Omniscience alone could 
frame and distribute proper names, in that language, 
adequately representing the high and holy quali- 
ties of those to whom they should belong. But 
Omniscience will be exercised to make heaven 
perfect. And such a language, and such names, 
may be among the perfections of heaven. 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



Abdallah, Abdiel, 297. 
Abed-nego, 444. 
Abel, 261. 
Abiah, Abijah, 168. 
Abiathar, 372. 
Abigail, 376. 
Abihu, 230. 
Abijam, 172. 
Abimelech, 369, 421. 
Abinadab, 372. 
Abiram, 318. 
Abishag, 378. 
Abishai, 376. 
Abital, 377. 
Abner, 374. 
Abraham, 314. 
Abrech, 470. 
Absalom, 368. 
Achan, Achar, 285. 
Achish, 421. 
Adah, Adaiah, 426. 
Adam, 9. 
Addiel, 129. 
Adonijah, 218. 
Adonikam, 218. 
Adoniram, 219. 
Adoni-zedek, 428. 
Adrammelech, 248. 
Agag, 456. 
Agrippa, 531. 
Ahab, 379. 
Aharah, 381. 



Ahashuerus, 478. 

Ahaz, Ahaziah, 196. 

Ahiah, 384. 

Ahiam, 379. 

Ahiman, 432. 

Ahimelech, 382. 

Ahimoth, 381. 

Ahinadab, 380. 

Ahinoam, 382. 

Ahiram, 382. 

Ahishahar, 309. 

Ahitophel, 384. 

Ahitub, 380. 

Aholah, 426. 

Aholibah, Aholibamah, 426 

Ahuzzath, 260, 422, 

Aiah, 427. 

Akhab, 280. 

Alcimus, 496, 

Alpheus, 497. 

Amaziah, 206. 

Ammi, 223. 

Ammiel, 129, 368. 

Amminadab, 373. 

Ammishaddai, 222. 

Amraphel, 434. 

Anah, Anath, 427. 

Anak, 432. 

Andronicus, 576. 

Aner, 423. 

Anna, 486. 

Apelles, 518. 

Aquila, 535. 

Archippus, 514. 



55° 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



Ariel, 402. 

Arioch, 434. 

Asina, Asellus, Asinius, 401. 

Asnapper, 443. 

Assir, 143, 193. 

Asyncritus, 517. 

Athaliah, 196. 

Azarel, 225. 

Azaz, Aziza, 398, 

Azbuk, 308, 

Azmaoeth, 308, 

Azriel, 225. 

Azrikam, 219. 

Azubah, 352. 

B 

Baal, 241. 

Baal-hanan, 235, 239, 247. 

Baara, 310. 

Balaam, 457. 

Baladan, 237. 

Balak, 457. 

Barabbas, 487, 

Barachel, 467, 

Barjesus, 488. 

Bar-jona, 487. 

Barnabas, 488. 

Barsabas, 488. 

Bartholomew, 487, 

Bashemath, 469- 

Beeri, 426. 

Beeshazzar, 237. 

Belteshazzar, 237. 

Benjamin, Benoni, 287, 

Bera, 444. 

Berechiah, 467. 

Beriah, 289. 

Bern ice, 520. 

Bethuel, 137. 

Beaded, 148, 

Bildad, 468. 

Bflhah, Bilhan, 308. 

Birsha, 444. 

Bfthiah, 473. 



Blastus, 519. 
Brutus, 389. 
Boanerges, 362. 



Caiaphas, 493. 
Cain, 258. 
Cainan, 260. 
Caleb, 400. 
Calvin, 309. 
Cananite, 363. 
Carpus, 519. 
Chedorlaomer, 433. 
Chileab, 411. 
Chloe, 520. 

Chushan-rishathaim, 434. 
Chuza, 494, 
Claudia, 539. 
Claudius Lysias, 531. 
Clemens, 537. 
Cleopas, 447. 
Col-hozeh, 494. 
Cornelius, 527. 
Cozbi, 453. 
Crassus, 399. 
Crescens, 538. 
Crispus, 535. 
Cyrus, 477. 



Daman's, 460, 520. 
Dan, 336. 
Daniel, 156. 
Darius, 477. 
David, 347. 
Debir, 429. 
Deborah, 403. 
Demetrius, 502. 
Dionysius, 503. 
Diotrephes, 502. 
Dorcas, 492, 519. 
Draco, 405. 
Drusilla, 530. 



IXDEX OF NAMES. 



551 



Ebedmelech, 396. 

Edom, 309. 

Eglah, 460, 520. 

Eglon, 459. 

Ehi, 381. 

El, 52-59. 

Elah, 405. 

Eleazar, 138. 

Eli, 127. 

Eliab, 228. 

Eliakim, 208, 496. 

Eliam, 225, 308. 

Elienai, 186. 

Eliezer, 136, 294. 

Elihu, 230, 467. 

Elijah, 149. 

Elimelech, 128. 

Elicenai, 184. 

Eliphaz, 486. 

Eliphelet, 228. 

Elisha, 152. 

Elishama, 225. 

Elisheba, 144. 

Elizabeth, 145, 

Elizur, 128. 

Elkanah, 143. 

Elnathan, 128. 

Eloah, 59-64. 

Elohim, 64-79. 

Elon, 426. 

Elzaphan, 181. 

Emmanuel, 360. 

Epaphras, Epaphroditus, 

5°5- 
Ephai, 308. 
Ephraim, 288. 
Ephron, 424. 
Epsenetus, 516. 
Erastus, 508. 
Esau, 278. 
Esarhaddon, 442. 
Esh-baal, 242. 
Eshcol, 423. 



Esther, 478. 
Eth-baal, 235. 
Eunice, 521. 
Euodia, 521. 
Eutychus, 511. 
Ezekiel, 155. 



Felix, 529. 
Festus, 531. 



Gabriel, 157. 
Gad, 336. 
Gahar, 309. 
Gaius, 535. 
Gallio, 529. 
Gamaliel, 147, 495. 
Gareb, 398. 
Gershom, 293. 
Giddel, 399. 
Giddalti, 218. 
Gideon, 241, 

H 

Hadadezer, 435. 

Hadoram, 437. 

Hagar, 479. 

Haman, 479, 

Hammelech, Hammoleketh, 

395. 
Hamon, 401. 
Hamutal, 377. 
Hanan, 192. 
Hananeel, 227. 
Hananiah, 493. 
Hannibal, 239. 
Hanno, 462. 
Hanun, 462. 
Haroeh, 176. 
Hasdrubal, 240. 
Hazael, 439. 



552 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



Hazaiah, 494. 

Hazelelponi, 187. 

Hegesippus, 496. 

Helah, 308. 

Hen, 183. 

Hephzibah, 353. 

Hernias, Hermes, Hermo- 

genes, 504. 
Hezekiah, 206. 
Hilkai, Hilkiah, 217. 
Hobab, 447. 
Hodesh, 310. 
Hoham, 429. 
Horam, 430. 
Hosea, Hoshea, 257. 
Hur, 254. 
Hushai, Hushah, Hushim, 

308. 
Hymeneus, 506. 



Ichabod, 301. 
Igal, 180. 
Igdaliah, 128* 
Isaac, 272. 
Isaiah, 212. 
Ishbosheth, 242. 
Ishi, 245. 
Ishiah, 180. 
Ishmael, 128, 269. 
Ishui, 411. 
Israel, 324. 
Issachar, 282. 
Ithamar, 406. 
Ithiel, 236. 
Ithmah, 461. 
Ittai, 236. 
Izhar, 406. 
Izrahiah, 176. 



j 

Jaakobah, 279. 
Jabesh, 399. 



Jabez, 303. 

Jabin, 430. 

Jacob, 277. 

Jah, 94. 

Jahleel, 142. 

Jair, Jairus, 490. 

Japhia, 429. 

Jason, 496. 

Jeberechlah, 467. 

Jecoliah, 206. 

Jedidiah, 346. 

Jehalaleel, 132. 

Jehoaddan, 128. 

Jehoahaz, 225. 

Jehoiachin, Jeconiah, 208. 

Jehoiada, 200, 

Jehoiakim, 208. 

Jehoram, Joram, 195, 438. 

Jehoshaphat, 128, 193. 

Jehosheba, 198. 

Jehovah, 82-93. 

Jehu, 202. 

Jemuel, 141. 

Jemima, 469. 

Jeremiah, 214. 

Jerubbaal, 241. 

Jerubbesheth, 242. 

Jerushah, 260. 

Jeshurum, 331. 

Jesus, 123, 359. 

Jesse, 376. 

Jethro, 446. 

Jezreel, 332. 

Joanna, 492. 

Joash, 182. 

Job, 465, 468. 

Jochebed, 167. 

Joel, 180, 

John, 357. 

Jonah, 404. 

Jonadab, Jchonadab, 192. 

Jonathan, 190. 

Josedech, 225. 

Joseph, 284. 

Joshua, 337. 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



55: 



Josiah, 182. 

Jotham, 188. 

Jozachar, 225. 

Judas, 489. 

Judith 426. 

Julius, Julia, 517, 532, 539, 

Jupiter, 116. 

K 

Kenites, The, 448. 
Keren-happuch, 469, 
Keziah, 469. 
Korah, 309. 



Laban 309, 
Laish, 402. 
Lazarus, 141. 
Leah, 308. 
Lebbeus, 489, 
Leon, Leonidas, 402. 
Lois, 521, 
Lucius, 309, 533, 
Luke, 534. 
Lydia, 520. 

M 

Maadiah, 426. 
Maasai, 217. 
Maaseiah, 129. 
Maaziah, 128. 
Macer, 398. 
Magor-missabib, 355" 
Mahaleleel, 132. 
Mahalath, 307, 
Maharai, 240. 
Maherbal, 240. 
Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 240. 
Mahli, Mahlah, 397. 
Malchiah, 229, 392, 
Malchiel, 229, 392, 
Malchiram, 392, 



Malchi-sh.ua (Melchi-shua), 

2 45, 391- 
Malchus, 495. 
Mallothi, 218. 
Mamre, 423. 
Manaen, 495. 
Manasseh, 28 8. 
Manius, 309. 
Manoah, 268. 
Maoch, Maachah, 409. 
Mara, 387. 
Marcus, 533. 
Martha, 491. 
Maiy, 483. 
Mattaniah, 210. 
Mattathiah, Matthew, 40S. 
Mehujael, 131. 
Melchizedek, 322. 
Melech, 394. 
Menahem, 495. 
Mephibosheth, 242. 
Meraioth, 483. 
Merari, 483. 
Meremoth, 483, 
Meribbaal, 243. 
Mesha, 462. 
Meshach, 444, 
Methusael, 131. 
Micah,Michaiah, 181. 
Michael, 159. 
Mikneiah, 260. 
Miriam, 483. 
Mishael, 181. 
Moses, 291. 

N 

Naamah, 464. 
Naaman. 438. 
Nabal, 389. 
Nadab, 192. 
Nahash, 405. 
Nahor, 397. 
Naomi, 387, 521. 
Narcissus, 518. 



554 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



Nathan, 192. 
Nathanael, Nethaneel, 

487. 
Nathan-melech, 396. 
Nebo, 250. 
Nebuchadnezzar, 250. 
Nehemiah, 211. 
Nemuel, 141. 
Ner, 375. 
Nereus, 505. 
Nergal-Sharezer, 248. 
Neriah, 375. 
Nicanor, 499. 
Nicodemus, 499. 
Nicolas, 499. 
Niger, 532. 
Nimrod, 483. 
Noah, 264. 
Numenius, 310. 
Nymphas, 507. 

O 

Obadiah, 178. 
Obed, 296. 
Obed-edom, 297. 
Og, 457. 
Ohel, 426. 
Olympas, 507. 
Onesimus, 512. 
Onesiphorus, 513. 
Oreb, 455. 
Orpah, 461. 
Othniel, Othni, 402. 



Paltiel, Piltai, 228. 
Parmenas, 499. 
Paseah, 39S. 
Paul, 524. 
Pedahzur, 219. 

5 2 3- 
Peter, 362. 



146, 



Peulthai, 283. 
Phsedrus, 429. 
Phalti, Pelatiah, 217. 
Phanuel, 486. 
Pharaoh, 471. 
Philemon, 514. 
Philetus, 509. 
Philip, 497. 
Philologus, 516. 
Phinehas, 473. 
Phlegon, 518. 
Phcebe, 502. 
Pil, Pul, Pileser, 441. 
Piram, 429. 
Pontius Pilate, 528. 
Potiphar, Potipherah, 471. 
Priscilla, 535. 
Prochorus, 499. 
Publius. 536. 
Pudens, 538, 
Putiel, 474. 
Pyrrhus, 309, 



Quartus, 536. 

R 

Rab-mag, 443. 
Rabsaris, .443. 
Rabshakeh, 443. 
Rachel, 400. 
Reaiah, 176. 
Rebekah, 400. 
Regem-melech, 397. 
Rephaiah, 175. 
Reuben, 281. 
Reuel, 446. 
Rex, Rcgulus, 394. 
Rhoda, 520. 
Romamti-ezer, 218. 
Rufus, 537. 
Ruth, 460. 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



333 



Sabaoth, 97. 
Sabas, 488. 
Sacar, 283. 
Salome, 492, 
Samuel, 298. 
Sapphira, 493. 
Sarah, Sarai, 319. 
S argon, 442. 
Saul, 299, 525. 
Secundus, 536. 
Sennacherib, 442. 
Sergius Paulus, 526. 
Seth, 263, 
Shaddai, 112. 
Shadrach, 441. 
Shaharaim, 309, 
Shallum, 210. 
Shalmaneser, 441. 
Sharezer, 240. 
Shealtiel, 298. 
Shear-jashub, 349. 
Shelamiel, 147. 
Shelomi, Shelomith, 409. 
Shemaiah, 271. 
Shemeber, 445. 
Shemuel, 300. 
Shenazar, 441. 
Shephatiah, 225, 
Sheshai, 432. 
Shesh-bazzar, 311, 440. 
Shimri, Shomer, Shimrith, 

409. 
Shinab, 445. 
Shishak, 475. 
Shobi, 463, 
Shua, 429. 
Sihon, 429. 
Silas, Silvanus, 534, 
Simeon, Simon, 272. 
Sisera, 430. 
So, 475. 
Solomon, 345. 
Sopater, 510. 



Sosthenes, 510. 
Stachys, 519. 
Stephanas, 515. 
Stephen, 498. 
Stertinius, 397. 
Stratonice, 521. 
Susanna, 432, 492. 
Syntyche, 521. 



Tabitha, 492. 
Tahpenes, 474. 
Talmai, 432, 
Tamar, 405. 
Tertius, 536. 
Thaddeus, 489. 
Theophilus, 508. 
Thessalonice, 521. 
Thomas, 488. 
Tiglath-pileser, 441. 
Timon, 499. 
Timotheus, 507. 
Tirhakah, 476. 
Titus, 536. 
Tob-adonijah, 219. 
Tobiah, 219. 
Toi, 437. 
Trophimus, 511. 
Tryphena, Tryphosa, 522. 
Tychicus, 511. 

u,v 

Ulysses, 306. 
Urban(e), 538. 
Lri, 148. 
Uriah, 425. 
Urijati, 375. 
Uzzah, 397. 
Uzzi, 398. 
Uzziah, 204. 
Uzziel, 128. 
Vashti, 460. 
Vitellius, 478. 



556 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



Zabad, 227. 
Zabdi, 220, 490. 
Zabdiel, 228. 
Zabud, 227. 
Zaccheus, 491. 
Zacharias, 145. 
Zalmon, 456. 
Zalmunna, 455. 
Zaphnath-paaneah, 471. 
Zebah, 455. 
Zebedee, 490. 
Zebediah, 228, 490. 
Zebudah, 227. 
Zebulon, 283. 
Zedekiah, 210. 



Zeeb, 455. 
Zelotes, 361,. 
Zenas, 500. 
Zerah, 179, 476. 
Zerahiah, 176. 
Zerubbabel, 310. 
Zeruiah, 377. 
Zethan, 406. 
Zibeon, 428. 
Zibiah, 492. 
Zilthai, 148. 
Zippor, Zipporah, 447. 
Zohar, 424. 
Zophar, 468. 
Zur, 454. 
Zuriel, 219. 
Zurishaddaij 219. 



THE END. 



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